BANCROFT 

LIBRARY 

<• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


Af 


MEMOEIAL 


OF 


PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN 


BY    HIS     FATHER. 

F 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED   BY   HENRY   W.    DUTTON   AND   SON, 

90  &  92  WASHINGTON  STEEET. 

1867. 


EH 
- 1 


E   £/ 


$o   w'g/i  ts   grandeur   to   our  dust, 

So  near   is    God   to  man 
When   Duty  whispers   low,  THOU   MUST, 

The  youth  replies,  I   CAN. 

RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON. 


YKAftGU    T  nO  fi  LMUii    3KT 


MEMORIAL. 


PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN  was  born  in  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts, May  twentieth,  1838.  He  attended  some  of 
our  private  schools  during  the  earliest  years  of  his  life. 
Having  suffered  from  scarlet  fever,  and  a  very  severe 
relapse,  which  confined  him  for  many  months,  on  his 
partial  recovery  he  renewed  his  studies  under  private 
instructors,  as  he  lost  time  by  this  illness ;  and  not 
having  a  particular  desire  for  a  college  education,  he 
continued  these  private  lessons  for  many  years,  even 
to  the  time  when  he  commenced  his  travels  in  this 
country,  preparatory  to  a  foreign  tour.  As  boy  and 
young  man,  he  exhibited  decided  military  taste ;  and 
he  was  much  interested  in  our  volunteer  militia  and 
held  a  commission  in  the  Salem  Light  Infantry,  which 
he  resigned  to  go  abroad.  His  favorite  reading  was 
that  of  the  lives  of^  military  heroes,  of  battles  and  of 
war.  His  memory  was  retentive ;  and  I  have  been 
often  surprised,  in  conversation  with  him,  to  hear  how 
i* 


6  PICKEEING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

familiar  and  thorough  he  was  in  these  matters, — unu- 
sually so  for  one  not  especially  educated  and  intended 
for  a  military  life.  The  thought  that  he  ever  would 
have  occasion  to  fight  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
honor  and  independence  of  the  flag  of  his  country 
had  never,  up  to  this  time,  entered  his  mind. 

Early  in  November,  1859, — then  being  nearly 
twenty-one  years  and  six  months  of  "age, — he  sailed 
from  New  York,  in  the  steamer  Baltic,  for  San  Fran- 
cisco, meaning  to  visit  that  region  and  go  thence  to 
the  East  Indies.  What  were  his  experiences,  and 
what  places  he  sojourned  at,  will  appear  by  extracts 
from  his  letters  : — 

LETTEES  FKOM   SAN  FBANCISCO. 

STEAMER  BALTIC,  AT  SEA,  Nov.  12,  1859. 

DEAR  FATHER, — 

We  have  had  a  very  fine  passage,  so  far,  and  expect 
to  arrive  at  the  Isthmus  to-night.  The  sail  down  New 
York  harbor  was  very  pleasant.  We  passed  the  Northern- 
Light  steamer — the  rival  boat — before  getting  beyond  the 
islands.  The  second  day  out,  we  encountered  a  severe 
northeast  gale,  which  lasted  thirty-six  hours.  I  was  sea- 
sick during  this  time,  but  have  not  been  since.  T was 

not  seasick.  Only  nine  of  one  hundre/l  and  fifty  cabin  pas- 
sengers appeared  at  table  the  day  of  the  storm.  While  it 
lasted,  we  had  several  accidents  on  board :  One  steerage 


LETTERS    FROM    SAN   FRANCISCO.  I 

passenger  broke  his  leg,  and  another  his  arm ;  one  of  the 
horses  died ;  and  the  planks  around  the  wheelhouse  were 
torn  up  by  the  sea.  Among  other  things  on  board  are 
forty-three  hives  of  bees,  and  they  are  very  plenty  on  the 
deck;  they  do  not  sting;  they  came  very  near  going  over- 
board in  the  storm,  but  most  of  them  were  saved  by  the 
sailors.  I  like  the  sea  as  well  as  I  expected ;  it  is  rather 
tiresome.  We  have  ten  hundred  and  twenty-seven  passen- 
gers— one  hundred  and  fifty  first-cabin,  two  hundred  second, 
and  the  rest  steerage ;  many  extremely  pleasant  people 
among  them.  A  lady  (with  her  father),  going  to  Lima, 
is  very  accomplished;  she  speaks  six  languages.  Mr.  War- 
ren, of  New  York,  is  very  entertaining;  he  has  written  two 
or  three  books  on  South  America.  Other  Boston  and  New 
York  gentlemen  and  ladies  I  have  become  acquainted  with ; 
and  Mr.  Hovelley,  who  is  going  to  Panama,  is  a  son  of  the 
President  of  the  Panama  and  Aspinwall  Railroad.  He 
introduced  me  to  the  Captain,  Purser,  and  others.  The 
Purser  offered  to  look  after  my  baggage,  which  is  a  great 
relief,  as  the  heat  in  the  baggage  room  is  intense.  Mr. 
Crosby  of  Boston,  and  of  the^  firm  of  Crosby  &  Co.  of 
Callao,  introduced  me  yesterday  to  a  niece  of  my  French 
teacher,  Mons.  Jerome  of  Salem.  She  wondered  that  you 
had  a  son  so  old  as  myself.  Yesterday,  we  passed  by  Cuba 
without  stopping;  the  island  appeared  beautiful;  we  were 
very  near  the  shore  for  three  or  four  hours.  Flying  fish  are 
plentiful,  but  none  have  come  on  board.  The  weather  is 
now  extremely  hot. 


PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 


STEAMSHIP  SONORA,  Nov.  19,  1859. 

I  am  now  writing  this  to  leave  at  Acapulco,  as  it  will 
reach  you  a  steamer  sooner  than  a  letter  mailed  at  San 
Francisco.  We  arrived  at  Aspinwall  last  Saturday,  at 
midnight, — a  week  ago  to-day.  The  trip  over  the  Isthmus 
was  delightful,  the  weather  being  remarkably  fine  and  the 
scenery  grand.  I  was  much  struck  with  the  vegetation: 
the  trees  were  very  large  and  splendid ;  orchids  were 
growing  on  nearly  all  of  the  large  ones,  and  some  of  the 
flowers  were  beautiful.  Oranges,  cocoanuts,  bananas  and 
pineapples  were  plenty ;  the  latter  remarkably  fine,  the 

oranges  were  not.    T left  at  Panama,  and  has  gone  to 

Lima.  Last  night  we  had  a  heavy  gale  of  wind  in  the  Gulf 
of  Tehauntepec,  which  is  noted  for  its  gales;  the  Captain 
says  he  never  knew  it  blow  harder  on  this  coast;  many  of 
the  ladies  were  much  frightened,  the  waves  were  tremen- 
dous, and  I  was  a  little  seasick.  The  blacks  at  Aspinwall 
and  Panama  were  plenty,  and  willing  to  carry  baggage  at 
exorbitant  rates ;  we  paid  th,em  about  half  they  asked.  One 
of  them  was  much  delighted  by  a  new  ten  cent  piece  I  paid 
him ;  another  immediately  came  to  know  if  I  had  been  to 
the  place  where  they  made  bits ;  another  was  looking  over 
a  picture  book  that  a  child  had,  and  seemed  much  pleased. 
Only  one  alligator  made  his  appearance:  he  was  about  three 
feet  long,  and  seemed  nearly  all  mouth.  We  should  have 
been  at  Acapulco  to-night;  we  were  detained  a  little  by  the 
gale;  expect  to  be  there  early  to-morrow,  when  we  shall 
stop  a  few  hours.  The  coast  of  Mexico — looking  finely, 


LETTERS  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO.        9 

high  and  bold — is  now  in  sight.  We  have  just  passed 
through  an  immense  school  of  porpoises ;  some  of  their 
jumps  were  wonderful.  Flying  fish  are  very  plenty  and  are 
amusing,  jumping  in  and  out  of  the  water.  The  steamer  is 
very  crowded;  there  are  three  in  our  state  room;  I  have  the 
middle  berth.  We  have  very  pleasant  times  on  the  ship; 
the  party  well  acquainted  sit  together  at  meals ;  we  break- 
fast at  eight  and  a  half,  lunch  at  one,  dine  at  four  and  a  half. 
The  last  of  this  letter  has  been  written  on  my  knee,  and  I 
do  not  know  that  you  will  be  able  to  read  it;  but  the  table 
was  wanted  and  I  had  to  leave  the  saloon ;  even  there  it  is 
hard  writing,  as  the  motion  of  the  boat  is  great. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  DEC.  4,  1859. 

We  arrived  in  this  city  last  Sunday;  it  was  a  splendid 
day.  All  our  arrivals  were  on  Sunday, — at  Aspinwall, 
Panama,  Acapulco,  and  at  this  place.  Acapulco  is  a  small 
Mexican  town,  with  a  population  of  about  two  thousand ; 
we  arrived  there  at  two  in  the  morning,  when  several  gen- 
tlemen and  myself  went  on  shore  and  breakfasted  on  broiled 
chickens  and  fried  bananas;  the  women  who  waited  upon 
us  at  the  table  were  all  smoking.  As  soon  as  we  landed  a 
great  number  of  children  surrounded  us,  teasing  us  to  buy  * 
all  sorts  of  nicknacks ;  as  we  would  not  buy,  they  wanted  to 
make  presents,  which  we  also  firmly  refused  to  accept;  some 
who  did  take  them  were  followed  and  had  to  reciprocate  by 
giving  them  a  half  dollar,  a  sum  much  in  excess  in  value  of 
the  article  received.  Fruit  was  plentiful  and  good;  it  was 
both  nicer  and  cheaper  than  at  Aspinwall  or  Panama.  As 


10          PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN. 

soon  as  it  was  daylight  the  steamer  was  surrounded  by  men, 
swimming;  they  were  waiting  for  dimes  to  be  thrown  over; 
their  diving  was  wonderful,  they  only  lost  one  out  of  a  large 
number  tossed  them.  The  passage  up  from  Acapulco  was 
very  pleasant;  we  had  only  one  rainy  day.  We  had  one 
accident:  a  little  girl  of  six  years  of  age  fell  from  the  upper 
deck  down  into  the  second  cabin,  a  distance  of  thirty  feet; 
she  broke  her  thigh,  but  the  surgeon  says  she  will  get  well. 
I  am  at  the  Oriental  Hotel,  a  very  old  looking  wooden 
building,  but  a  very  good  and  well  kept  house.  The  gentle- 
men here  have  been  very  polite  and  attentive:  Mr.  Low 
introduced  me  to  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  and  his  brother 
George  to  the  Mercantile  Library;  Dr.  Bonie  sent  me  an 
invitation  to  the  Pacific  Club  Rooms,  and  invited  me  to  his 
house;  yesterday  I  called  on  George  Ward,  who  introduced 
me  to  gentlemen  at  the  Union  Club,  and  sent  me  an  invita- 
tion to  it  and  also  one  to  dine  there  to-morrow.  This  city 
is  a  very  singular  place ;  the  buildings  being  mostly  wooden. 
The  evening  after  we  arrived  quite  a  fire  took  place  in  the 
Chinese  portion  of  the  city,  and  the  excitement  among  them 
was  great;  there  are  between  five  and  six  thousand  of  them 
in  the  town.  There  are  some  fine  buildings,  and  many  in 
course  of  construction.  The  view  from  Telegraph  Hill — 
which  has  an  elevation  of  six  hundred  feet — is  splendid. 
I  am  to  visit  the  forts  at  Fort  Point  with  some  of  the 
officers  stationed  here;  they  are  not  yet  completed,  but 
when  finished  are  expected  to  be  good,  and  well  adapted 
for  the  protection  of  the  city.  I  shall  remain  here  until 

M arrives,  in  the  next  steamer,  when  we  shall  go  into 

the  country  for  about  ten  days.    The  grapes  here  are  from 


LETTERS    FROM    SAN   FRANCISCO.  11 

Los  Angelos;  they  are  cheap,  quite  small  and  very  good. 
I  write  in  great  haste. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  DEC.  18,  1859. 

Your  letter  arrived  safely,  by  the  last  steamer;  she  was 

two  days  behind  the  other  boat.  M came,  and  I  find 

him  a  very  pleasant  companion.  To-morrow  we  are  going 
to  Sacramento;  then  to  Grass  Valley  and  to  other  mining 
places  near  there.  The  country  is  now  looking  beautifully, 
about  the  same  as  in  the  middle  of  May  at  home ;  the  wild 
flowers  are  commencing  to  bloom.  I  have  been  riding  on 
horseback  nearly  every  day  the  last  fortnight,  and  have 
seen  the  country  around  here  thoroughly.  Many  of  the 
shops  and  all  the  theatres  are  open  here  on  Sunday. 
M and  myself  went  to  Albatross  Island  with  Lieuten- 
ant McPherson,  in  his  boat;  he  has  charge  of  the  fort 
building  there.  We  have  been  to  the  Presidio,  where  two 
or  three  hundred  troops  are  stationed,  and  to  Fort  Point, 
on  which  is  a  very  fine  fort.  We  went  over  it  with  Lieu- 
tenant Elliot,  who  is  from  Billerica,  in  Massachusetts.  The 
city  has  been  quite  gay  the  last  week  with  a  Fair  in  Music 
Hall,  which  was  crowded  all  the  time.  The  great  attraction 
the  last  few  days  has  been  the  encampment  of  the  Pitt-river 
Indians,  who  were  taken  prisoners  a  few  weeks  ago.  They 
left  here  yesterday  for  Mendicino,  the  Indian  Reservation. 
They  were  a  very  mild  looking  set,  and  numbered  a  few 
less,  than  five  hundred ;  when  they  came,  many  of  them  had 
no  clothing  excepting  a  blanket,  most  of  the  children  not 
having  even  that;  quantities  of  clothes  were  sent  them,  and 


12  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

before  they  left  they  looked  quite  respectable.  Many  of  the 
men  had  gold  rings  through  their  noses,  which  were  highly 
ornamental.  They  were  not  like  the  Indians  we  see  at  home; 
they  seemed  docile  and  more  easily  managed,  and  were  in 
charge  of  a  small  guard.  I  have  been  out  to  Captain 
Macondry's  Ranch:  it  is  twenty-one  miles  from  town,  and 
a  very  pretty  place ;  trees  are  plenty  there,  and  as  they  are 
scarce  in  the  city  it  was  quite  pleasant  to  see  them  again. 
I  have  dined  with  Mr.  Ward  often,  at  the  club ;  he  is  a 
very  small  man,  and  when  we  walk  together  people  stare 
tremendously;  he  suffers  from  the  gout,  which  he  says  he 
now  fights  off  with  strong  coffee.  The  weather  is  remark- 
able, only  one  rainy  day  in  the  three  weeks  I  have  been  here; 
white  frosts  nearly  every  morning,  but  no  ice ;  it  is  colder 
up  in  the  country.  There  is  now  only  one  vessel  fitting  for 
China — the  Early  Bird ;  she  is  smaTl,  and  sails  about  the 
fifth  of  January;  we  shall  not  go  in  her  if  there  is  any 
prospect  of  any  other  conveyance  in  a  reasonable  time.  I 
have  at  last  found  Ellen ;  she  was  very  glad  to  see  me ; 
I  went  again  to  the  place  where  she  used  to  live,  and  met 
a  little  girl, — she  knew  Mrs.  O'Keefe's  young  ones,  and  from 
her  I  found  her  whereabouts ;  she  now  lives  in  an  entirely 
different  part  of  the  city;  she  is  very  well,  and  I  have  sent 
my  clothes  to  her  to-day.  My  love  to  Marion  and  Lizzie. 


SAN  FKANCISCO,  JAN.  4,  1860. 

On  the  day  that  I  wrote  you  last  we  left  here  for  Sacra- 
mento, arriving  there  the  next  morning.  As  yet  it  is  a 
small  place,  well  laid  out.  Early  the  next  day  we  took  the 


LETTERS  FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO.       13 

boat  for  Marysville,  seventy-five  miles  up  the  river.  It 
was  a  thick  day,  and  we  saw  but  little  to  interest  excepting 
General  Sutler's  plantation,  which  is  a  nice  farm.  We  took 
the  stage  coach  at  six  o'clock  the  next  morning  for  Nevada, 
arriving  there  at  four  in  the  afternoon;  the  day  was  pleas- 
ant, and  the  drive  was  quite  interesting;  we  passed  through 
Smartsville,  Timbuctoo  and  Grass  Valley,  all  of  them  mining 
towns;  as  to  the  roads  and  the  hills,  they  were  dreadful, — 
nothing  in  New  Hampshire  or  Vermont  can  compare  with 
them.  We  remained  three  days  in  Nevada,  examining  the 
different  kinds  of  mining.  The  proprietor  of  the  hotel  took 
us  to  the  mines  and  introduced  us  to  the  head  workman,  and 
he  took  great  pains  to  show  and  explain  all  the  extensive 
operations:  these  were  interesting  and  well  worth  seeing; 
large  hills  have  been  cut  away  to  find  the  gold,  and  some 
tunnels  are  three  hundred  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground;  we  procured  some  very  pretty  specimens  of  quartz,- 
although  the  gold  does  not  show  much.  On  our  return  we 
left  at  half  past  one  in  the  morning,  in  the  stage  coach, 
called  here  a  mud  wagon ;  it  was  dark  and  rained  hard  for 
some  hours;  it  cleared  at  sunrise;  before,  it  was  dull  and 
stupid  and  tedious,  many  times  the  wagon  had  to  stop  for 
part  of  the  passengers  to  get  upon  the  steps  and  side  to 
prevent  the  thing  from  upsetting.  We  reached  Sacramento 
at  three  in  the  afternoon  and  remained  until  two  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  next  day, — arriving  at  San  Francisco  at  ten 
that  night,  fairly  fatigued  and  tired  out.  Your  letter  arrived 
last  night — the  mail  steamer  being  eight  days  behindhand. 
The  weather  continues  very  fine,  with  but  few  storms ; 
when  it  rains  it  pours,  and  floods  the  streets  in  a  very  short 
2 


-  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

time;  we  do  not  wear  or  need  overcoats.  I  hope  we  shall 
be  able  to  get  away  for  China  soon;  although  we  are  enjoy- 
ing ourselves  here  very  much  we  ought  not  to  stay  much 
longer.  The  city  is  very  gay :  on  Tuesday  we  had  a  large 
party  in  the  house,  given  to  the  guests;  the  next  night  we 
were  at  a  private  party  given  by  a  lady;  on  Friday  night, 
to  a  ball  at  Virginia  Block,  and  last  night  at  a  small  party 
at  Dr.  Bonie's ;  and  to-morrow,  a  lady  in  the  house  is  to 
give  a  very  large  ball — over  four  hundred  invitations  have 
been  issued.  I  send  this  by  the  overland  mail,  and,  since  I 
have  been  writing,  the  ship  Don  Quixote  has  arrived,  and 
if  she  goes  to  China  it  will  be  a  fine  vessel  for  us  to  take 
passage  there,  as  she  is  a  large  clipper  vessel. 


FRANCISCO,  JAN.  16,  1860. 

We  are  to  leave  here  on  Saturday  or  Sunday  for  Japan. 

M and  myself  go  over  with  Mr.  Frank  Knight,  of 

Boston,  who  has  chartered  the  barque  What  Cheer,  of  four 
or  five  hundred  tons,  with  remarkably  fine  accommodations 
for  passengers.  Mr.  Knight  came  from  there  only  six 
weeks  ago,  and  expects  to  establish  a  commercial  house 
at  Kanagawa.  This  is  only  a  few  miles  from  Jeddo,  which 
place  we  hope  to  be  able  to  visit;  but  this  is  extremely 
doubtful.  A  steamer  runs  from  Kanagawa  to  Shanghai, 

and  we  expect  to  go  to  China  on  her.  T has  not  yet 

arrived,  and  we  shall  probably  not  see  him ;  we  have  been 
here  much  longer  than  we  intended. 

JAN.  23. — We  are  still  in  this  city,  but  certainly  sail 
to-niorrow,  at  ten  o'clock;  we  have  three  more  passengers 


LETTERS    FROM    JAPAN.  15 

on  the  What  Cheer — six  in  all.  We  expect  to  arrive  in 
Japan  about  the  first  of  March  and  remain  about  three 
weeks,  and  then  go  to  Shanghai  or  Hong  Kong  if  possible. 
We  shall  not  tarry  long  in  China  if  an  opportunity  offers  for 
Manila,  where  I  expect  to  stay  about  one  month,  and  thence 
go  to  Calcutta  or  Batavia.  You  had  better  direct  letters 
after  the  middle  of  March  •  to  Calcutta.  I  have  had  an 
attack  of  rheumatism,  but  am  now  well  again  ;  it  lasted 
five  days. 

LETTERS  FROM  JAPAX. 

KAXAGAAVA,  JAPAN,  MARCH  16,  AXD 

YOKUHAMA,  JAPAX,  APRIL  10,  18GO. 

DEAR  FATHER  AXD  MOTHER,— 

After  a  pleasant  passage  of  forty  days  from  San  Francisco 
we  arrived  off  the  Bay  of  Jeddo  at  sunset,  and  had  to  wait 
for  daylight  before  entering.  With  daylight  came  a  head 
wind,  which  soon  increased  so  as  to  be  blowing  a  furious 
gale,  and  instead  of  landing  that  day,  as  we  had  anticipated, 
we  were  blown  about  in  nearly  every  direction  for  five  or 
six  days,  when  we  finally  succeeded  in  getting  to  the 
anchorage,  it  snowing  fast  at  the  time.  When  six  days 
from  San  Francisco  we  saw  two  ships  and  spoke  one — the 
Oracle,  of  Xew  York,  a  fine  clipper  of  large  size;  it  was  full 
moon,  and  early  in  the  evening,  and  she  made  a  beautiful 
appearance.  When  off  the  Sandwich  Islands  we  met  with  a 
severe  gale,  that  lasted  two  days,  and  prevented  our  stopping 
for  water  and  provisions.  We  did  not  regret  this,  as  our 
stop  would  necessarily  have  been  very  short.  The  scenery 


16  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

of  Jeddo  is  quite  fine, — the  Bay  full  of  junks,  mostly  small 
fishing  vessels  ;  and  when  we  were  sailing  up  the  crews 
saluted  us  with  their  Japanese  cry  of  welcome.  From  the 
anchorage  the  town  is  a  very  ordinary  looking  place, — the 
houses  which  one  sees  being  occupied  by  fishermen  and 
boatmen.  The  Custom  House  is  a  large  wooden,  good 
looking  building,  with  a  roof  of  red  tiles  and  in  a  large 
enclosure  with  a  wall  six  or  eight  feet  high  around  It.  This 
country  has  much  to  interest  us.  Kanagawa  is  an  old  town, 
the  streets  very  narrow;  all  the  Consuls  live  here,  but  most 
of  the  business  is  conducted  at  Yokuhama,  two  miles  from 
Kanagawa.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  get  into  Jeddo,  ae 
foreigners  being  allowed  to  go  only  ten  miles  inland.  Our 
Yice  Consul,  Mr.  Hall,  has  been  there  and  remained  some 
weeks.  He  says  it  is  exactly  like  Yokuhama.  only  very  much 
more  extended.  I  wish  very  much  to  go  there,  and  shall  if 
possible  ;  it  is  fourteen  miles  from  here.  The  walk  between 
Kanagawa  and  Yokuhama  is  an  extremely  pretty  one, — the 
country  beautiful  and  the  soil  rich;  it  must  be  a  fine  place 
for  agricultural  purposes;  the  camalia  trees  are  now  in  full 
bloom.  The  people  are  very  curious;  they  follow  us  about, 
examining  our  clothes  ;  they  were  much  pleased  with  my 
rubber  suit ;  they  are  extremely  polite  and  wonderfully 
good  natured ;  if  we  go  into  a  store  and  remain  an  hour  or 
two,  giving  them  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and  without  making 
any  purchases,  they  seem  as  well  pleased  as  with  a  good 
customer,  and  always  invite  you  to  come  again.  The  coun- 
try is  densely  populated  ;  the  people  are  very  much  amused 
at  my  height,  and  a  great  many  come  up  and  measure 
themselves  by  me  and  seem  to  consider  it  a  very  good  joke; 


LETTERS    FROM   JAP  AX.  17 

the  men  and  unmarried  women  have  very  handsome  teeth, — 
the  married  women  blacken  theirs,  which  makes  them  very 
homely.  The  boatmen  are  wonderfully  tough ;  most  of 
them  wear  no  clothes  below  the  knee;  they  do  not  row,  but 
scull  their  boats, — the  government  boats  having  each  a  dozen 
or  more  scullers,  each  man  standing  up  to  his  work;  they 
move  through  the  water  rapidly.  Very  few  of  the  people 
wear  hats,  and  those  that  are  worn  are  made  of  straw  or 
paper,  shaped  like  a  wash  basin;  their  umbrellas  are  made  of 
oiled  paper,  and  their  stockings  are  made  like  our  mittens: 
their  shoes  are  kept  in  place  by  a  string,  passing  between 
the  toes.  The  streets  are  crowded  with  people,  and  the 
coolies  do  all  the  work;  they  draw  the  wagons — an  ordinary 
cart,  and  four  of  them  will  take  a  heavy  load;  they  make  a 
tremendous  noise,  singing  to  keep  time  in  working.  Storks 
and  crows  are  esteemed  as  sacred,  and  they  are  very  abun- 
dant and  tame;  the  latter  would  frequently  alight  upon  our 
vessel,  when  we  were  aboard  of  her  in  the  harbor.  The 
Custom-house  officers  and  petty  officials  wear  one  sword; 
the  relatives  of  princes  wear  two,  one  very  long,  the  other 
much  shorter.  The  common  people  seem  favorably  disposed 
towards  foreigners,  but  the  princes,  who  have  large  trains  to 
support,  are  much  opposed,  doubtless  in  consequence  of  the 
foreign  demand  for  goods,  which  has  greatly  increased  the 
cost  of  many  articles,  and  made  it  very  difficult  for  them 
to  maintain  their  establishments.  Some  of  these  have  ten 
thousand  soldiers,  clothed  mostly  in  silk,  which  is,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  foreign  demand,  aJread'  increased  in  price 
one  half.  All  the  murders  have  been  committed  by  their 
followers,  and  no  doubt  by  their  command, — the  murderer 

2* 


18  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEX. 

escaping  into  the  Provinces,  and  the  Government,  if  they 
had  the  will,  have  not  the  power  to  punish  them.  The  lives 
of  foreigners  are  very  insecure  and  we  all  go  well  armed. 
Two  Dutch  captains  were  killed  the  last  of  February,  and 
cut  to  pieces  in  the  main  street  of  Yokuhama  at  five  or  six 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  men  escaped,  although  there 
must  have  been  hundreds  near  at  the  time.  The  next  month 
the  followers  of  the  Prince  of  Matte  assassinated  the  Prime 
Minister  for  the  reason  of  his  favoring  the  foreigners,  and 
had  not  the  Governor  of  a  Province  favorable  to  the  Gov- 
ernment have  come  up  at  that  time  the  assassins  would  have 
escaped.  They  were  all  taken;  had  it  been  otherwise,  a  civil 
war  would  probably  have  followed,  as  these  Princes  have 
an  army  nearly  as  large  as  that  of  the  Emperor.  The 
Governor  of  Kanagawa  and  Yokuhama  passes  through  the 
streets  daily,  on  his  way  to  the  Custom  House;  he  is  a  good 
looking  man,  and  has  about  forty  attendants,  several  of  them 
being  two-sworded  officers ;  a  little  in  advance  is  one  man 
with  a  long  pole  with  iron  rings;  this  he  shakes  to  announce 
the  Governor,  and  as  he  passes  all  the  people  kneel;  he  usu- 
ally rides  on  a  horse,  but  never  moves  faster  than  a  walk, 
as  this  would  not  be  dignified.  This  Custom  House  is  a 
great  annoyance  to  us  foreigners,  as  we  have  to  go  there 
twice  a  day  to  get  the  small  sum  of  ten  dollars  changeddhto 
Japanese  itsalves;  these  are  worth  about  thirty-five  cents. 
The  Government  have  been  stamping  Mexican  dollars  at 
three  itsalves  each,  but  the  natives  will  not  take  them  at  any 
better  rate  than  before,  and  sell  their  goods  for  much  less 
when  paid  in  their  currency.  One  great  difficulty  in  trading 
with  them  is  that  they  have  no  fixed  price,  asking  two  or 


LETTEKS   FROM   JAPAN.  19 

three  times  as  much  for  an  article  as  they  finally  will  sell 
for.  I  shall  send  home  some  of  the  porcelain,  bronze  and 
lacquered  goods;  these  things  are  kept  for  sale  in  separate 
shops;  they  are  very  handsome.  The  porcelain  vases  are 
very  graceful  and  superior  to  the  Chinese,  but  having  too 
much  glass  in  their  composition  gives  them  a  bluish  color ; 
the  lacquered  articles  are  in  great  variety  and  splendid,  and 
the  bronzes  are  fine. 

Yokuhama  has  been  built  the  last  year,  and  here  the 
business  of  the  merchants  is  mostly  conducted.  It  is  regu- 
larly laid  out;  the  main  street  is  wide,  good  looking  and 
very  clean.  The  houses  are  most  of  them  two  stories  high, 
the  lower  story  being  used  for  stores;  they  are  built  of 
wood  and  part  of  them  are  painted,  but  they  are  all  new 
and  fresh ;  the  windows  are  made  of  strong  paper,  oiled ; 
they  admit  a  good  light  and  wear  well.  We  saw  many 
handsome  birds  at  a  menagerie  here,  and  two  storks  nearly 
as  tall  as  myself.  Entire  suits  of  water-proof  clothing, 
of  paper,  are  made  here,  and  can  be  had,  with  a  cap  and 
cape,  for  about  seventy-five  cents,  the  collars  being  of  silk; 
they  are  glazed  with  oil,  and  are  very  serviceable.  "We 
found  eight  or  ten  English,  Dutch  and  American  vessels 
here,  and  one  Russian  corvette;  also  one  hundred  and  fifty 
foreign  residents,  who  have  been  here  only  a  few  weeks,  the 
most  of  them, — the  port  was  only  opened  last  July.  The 
Consuls  all  live  in  Kanagawa;  usually  they  occupy  an  old 
Budhist  Temple;  General  Dorr,  the  American  Consul,  has 
one  particularly  well  situated,  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  with  a 
grove  of  large  trees  near.  It  is  built  of  stone,  and  is  very 
large;  the  top  of  the  principal  room  is  inlaid  with  different 


20  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEX. 

woods,  finely  polished  and  carved.  The  mountain  Fusiana 
is  a  glorious  sight  at  sunrise;  it  is  nearly  thirteen  thousand 
feet  high,  and  is  now  covered  with  snow ;  it  seems  very  near, 
but  it  is  more  than  thirty  miles  distant.  The  Japanese 
esteem  this  mountain  as  sacred,  and  have  the  belief  that  a 
bad  man  cannot  ascend  to  its  top, — that  although  his  feet 
may  move,  he  can  make  no  progress.  The  Custom-house 
officers,  being  two-sworded  men — petty  nobility — are  very 
proud,  but  fond  of  dining  with  the  foreign  merchants  and 
always  come  in  when  they  feel  inclined,  and,  as  the  foreigners 
sometimes  invite  the  Japanese  merchants,  they  occasionally 
meet,  when  the  merchant  has  to  leave,  bowing  all  the  time 
to  the  officer,  who  generally  takes  no  notice  of  him.  We 
expect  to  sail  from  here  for  China  in  the  Boston  ship  Judge 
Shaw,  to  leave  near  the  middle  of  April.  I  have  met  Mr. 
Stearns,  who  was  in  the  same  house  with  Charles  Orne  for 
several  years.  He  says  that  he  is  in  Canton,  and  I  shall  go 
there  to  see  him. 


LETTERS  FROM  CHIKA. 


KONG,  CHINA,  MAY  9,  1860. 

We  arrived  yesterday,  and  on  going  on  shore  I  find  that 
the  mail  closes  this  morning  and  I  have  only  time  to  say 
that  we  had  a  rather  long  passage  of  twenty-six  days.  The 
first  week  out  from  Japan  we  had  nothing  but  calms  and 
gales  of  wind ;  one  of  these  was  a  typhoon,  in  which  the 
ship  lost  all  the  sails  set  except  the  fore  top-sail,  which  fortu- 


LETTERS    FROM    CHINA.  21 

nately  only  split;  after  this  we  had  very  fine  weather  and 
light  winds.  Hong  Kong  is  crowded  with  strangers;  the 
French  and  English  armies  are  encamped  here ;  they 
number  about  forty  thousand  men.  The  harbor  is  very 
full  of  vessels— nearly  two  hundred  ships — sixty  of  them 
men  of  war  and  transports;  and  the  streets  are  entirely 
full  of  soldiers,  sailors  and  Chinamen.  The  soldiers  are 
reviewed  three  times  a  week,  and  the  Sheik's  cavalry  attract 
much  attention.  "We  shall  go  to  Canton  next  week,  and 
probably  to  Manila  in  a  Spanish  vessel  of  war — that  takes 
passengers — in  about  a  fortnight. 


MACAO,  MAY  19,  I860; 

Since  writing  you  last  I  have  been  in  Canton,  and  yester- 
day arrived  here.    When  in  Hong  Kong  M and  myself 

had  our  quarters  at  the  club.  The  great  attraction  there 
now  is  the  army,  which  is  encamped  on  the  shore  directly 
opposite  the  city;  the  reviews  receive  much  attention,  and 
the  Indian  Sheik's  cavalry  are  well  worth  seeing ;  I  see  by 
the  papers  that  more  than  half  of  them  went  north  recently. 
Here  there  is  great  difference  of  opinion  as  regards  the 
fighting  in  prospect,  many  thinking  that  the  Chinese  will 
not  fight,  and  the  residue  believing  that  it  will  be  very  severe. 
Hong  Kong  has  quite  an  American  or  European  look;  the 
houses,  many  of  them,  are  three  stories  in  height,  and  built 
of  stone;  the  Queen's  road  is  a  handsome  wide  street, 
about  a  mile  long.  The  weather  is  cool,  and  we  have  had 
no  inconvenience  from  heat. 


22  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEX. 

We  went  to  Canton  in  an  American  steamer,  and  were 
only  ten  hours  on  the  passage.  At  Canton  I  found  Charles  • 
Orne,  and  .he  invited  me  to  remain  at  his  house  while  there. 
He  looks  well  and  is  in  good  health,  and  was  very  polite, 
taking  us  to  see  all  the  wonders  of  the  city:  the  temples, 
with  their  gilded  gods,  life  size, — the  pagoda  is  very  old  and 
tall, 'but  far  from  handsome;  at  the  Temple  of  Congesity 
were  quite  a  number  of  Chinese  at  their  worship  of  the 
gilded  gods  (these  were,  some  of  them,  ten  feet  high) ;  we 
went  to  the  porcelain  and  ivory  warehouses,  and  found  the 
former  not  so  handsome  as  the  Japanese  and  much  more 
expensive;  the  river  near  the  city  is  covered  with  small 
boats  called  san  pans,  the  covered  part  of  which  is  not 
more  than  six  feet  square,  yet  the  number  of  people  living 
in  them  is  estimated  as  near  one  million.  The  merchants 
are  living  in  comfort;  they  breakfast  at  ten  and  dine  at 
seven  or  eight. 

Friday  morning  we  left  Canton  and  arrived  here  this  after- 
noon. This  is  the  Newport  of  China,  and  a  very  pleasant 
place;  we  are  staying  with  Mr.  Devens  of  Charlestown. 
We  have  visited  a  Chinese  theatre  and  enjoyed  it  much;  the 
dresses  were  gorgeous,  and  fire  crackers  were  extensively 
used. 

SUNDAY,  MAY  20. — This  is  my  birthday  and  I  begin  to 
feel  quite  old.  To-morrow  we  go  to  Hong  Kong,  and 
expect  to  sail  for  Manila  on  Thursday,  in  a  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment vessel  which  carries  the  mail. 

HONG  KONG,  21sT. — We  have  just  arrived  here,  and 
find  the  Manila  vessel  sails  in  two  or  three  hours,  three 
days  before  her  usual  time.  I  have  enjoyed  China  very 


LETTERS   FROM   MANILA.  23 

much,  and  should  have  been  better  pleased  could  we  have 
had  the  few  days  more  time  here. 

LETTERS  FROM  MANILA. 

MANILA,  JUNE  2,  1860. 

On  arriving  here  last  week  I  was  very  glad  to  find  five 
letters  from  you  and  three  from  other  friends;  two  of  them 

had  been  sent  by  way  of  China.    M is  with  Russell  & 

Sturgis;  I  am,  of  course,  with  Mr.  T .  We  are  enjoy- 
ing our  visit  here;  we  drive  every  afternoon  and  sometimes 
in  the  morning,  and  so  many  carriages  and  horses  are  kept 
(every  gentlemen  having  them),  and  frequenting  one  drive 
every  day,  from  six  to  seven  in  the  afternoon,  that  guards 
are  placed  to  prevent  their  passing  each  other, — the  fine  for 
doing  so  being  ten  dollars.  The  passage  over  from  China 
was  very  uncomfortable,  the  accommodations  exceedingly 
poor,  the  state  rooms  hot  and  unventilated ;  but  on  shore  we 
do  not  find  the  heat  uncomfortable,  and,  as  this  is  called  one 
of  the  warmest  months  in  the  year,  hope  it  will  not  be  so 
bad  as  we  had  feared.  I  should  prefer  this  island  for  a  resi- 
dence to  China,  as  the  society  is  good,  and  the  drives  are  a 
great  advantage  and  the  climate  fine.  This  city  has  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  two  hundred  thousand,  and  is  quite  large, 
with  many  old  churches  and  convents.  The  Government 
maintains  quite  a  large  force — now  ten  thousand  soldiers — 
and  the  many  regimental  bands  of  music  are  very  good, 
playing  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  The  Spanish  boy 
Benigno,  who  went  to  Mr.  Yery's  school  with  me,  in  Salem, 


24  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

vp 

is  now  in  the  country ;  he  is  expected  to  be  here  next  week, 
when  I  hope  to  meet  him. 

I  want  you  to  send  me,  to  Constantinople,  a  traveller's 
letter  of  credit,  to  be  used  there  and  in  Europe;  also  my 
letters  to  the  same  place.  We  shall  have  to  return  to  Hong 
Kong  from  here,  and  shall  go  by  the  next  mail — two  weeks 
hence — and  take  the  regular  steamer  to  Singapore  and  go 
from  there  to  Batavia,  as  every  one  we  see  recommends  us 
to  go  to  Java  and  pass  a  few  weeks ;  from  there  we  shall 
go  to  Calcutta.  I  shall  send  home, -from  Hong  Kong,  my 
Japanese  purchases,  with  a  few  Chinese  articles.  I  have 
bought  some  goods  here  and  shall  send  them,  with  most  of 
my  white  clothes  from  Calcutta.  These  accumulate,  and  I 
have  now  twenty  suits  of  linen  and  cotton,  and  it  is  hard 
to  get  along  with  these. 

My  love  to  M and  L ,  and  all  the  family. 


MANILA,  JULY  1,  1860. 

Since  writing  you  last  I  have  been  in  this  city,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  days  at  Masekeno,  a  «mall  village  ten 
miles  from  here  with  excellent  bathing  and  walking  facili- 
ties. The  country  is  pretty,  and  the  view  from  a  high  hill 
is  a  very  fine  one  and  very  extensive.  Yesterday  we  were 

very  much  surprised  at  T 's  arrival  from  Hong  Kong. 

He  will  go  with  us  to  Batavia. 

We  expected  to  leave  here  to-morrow,  but  owing  to  some 
accident  to  the  Manila  boat  we  shall  be  detained  another 
fortnight.  I  am  sorry  for  this,  as  I  do  not  like  to  spare 


LETTERS  FROM  SINGAPORE.          25 

so  much  time  for  one  place.  It  has  rained  most  of  the  time 
for  a  week  past,  but  it  is  fine  to-day ;  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  rainy  season  is  not  setting  in  yet  awhile. 

LETTERS  FKOM   SINGAPORE. 

SINGAPORE,  AUG.  3,  1860. 

I  am  now  on  board  the  ship  Singapore,  and  a  few  miles 
from  the  port;  we  expect  to  be  at  anchor  soon,  and,  as  the 
mail  leaves  the  next  day,  write  now.  "VVe  left  Manila  on  the 
nineteenth  of  July;  arrived  at  Hong  Kong  in  five  days,  after 
a  fine,  pleasant  passage.  As  fellow  passenger,  we  had  the 
French  Bishop  of  Cochin  China,  a  very  agreeable  man,  and 
we  talked  in  French,  which  was  at  least  advantageous  to  me. 
We  have  a  French  officer  in  this  ship,  so  that  I  have  been 
able  to  keep  up  conversation  as  well  as  if  Mons.  Jerome  had 
been  with  us.  I  hope  to  be  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  with 
more  on  the  future  passages  at  sea.  Before  leaving  Manila, 
we  were  present  at  the  inauguration  of  a  statue  of  the 
Queen  of  Spain;  there  was  a  grand  parade  of  troops,  with 
military  mass  by  the  Bishop,  and  a  great  ball  given  by  the 
Governor  in  the  evening.  Manila  is  a  very  pleasant  place, 
and,  although  my  stay  there  was  longer  than  I  anticipated, 

Mr.  T ,  by  his  kindness  and  attention,  made  my  visit 

very  pleasant,  and  I  enjoyed  myself  very  much.  I  have 
sent  home  my  Japanese  goods  by  Twing's  barque  D.  God- 
frey, from  Hong  Kong,  and  have  sent  other  small  packages 
by  other  conveyances, — and  by  Captain  "Waters,  some  views 
of  places  in  the  Island  of  Susan,  and  the  stem  of  a  very 
beautiful  cactus,  in  tin  with  moist  grass — the  case  is  air  tight 


26  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

and  a  like  package  has  been  sent  to  Germany  with  success. 
I  have  never  seen  so  fine  a  flower  of  the  cactus,  except  the 
Xight-blooming  Cereus,  which  it  equals  in  size. 

AUG.  4. — "We  find  we  may  stay  here  ten  days  before  we 
sail  for  Batavia;  the  hotel  is  good,  kept  by  a  Frenchman. 
Our  passage  here  has  been  very  fortunate,  as  this  is  the 
stormy  season  and  we  have  had  only  a  few  hours  blow 
since  leaving  China;  the  ship  is  large  and  comfortable, 
with  accommodations  for  forty  passengers,  and  we  had 
only  fifteen. 

AUG.  13. — Since  the  last  mail,  we  have  been  to  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  island,  where  the  Government  have  two 
bungalows,  in  one  of  which  we  lived.  It  was  beautifully 
situated  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  the  jungle  very  thick  on  one 
side  and  a  fine  sea  view  on  the  other.  The  trees  were  very 
tall;  I  should  think  some  of  them  were  fully  two  hundred 
feet  high.  We  had  hoped  for  good  shooting,  but  were  dis- 
appointed, and  did  not  see  anything  but  monkeys  and  small 
birds;  one  monkey  was  as  large  as  a  boy  twelve  years  old. 

I  write  and  repeat  much  written  before  about  finances  for 
fear  my  other  letters  may  not  reach  you,  and  asf  I  find  it 
more  advantageous  to  negotiate  a  draft  here  and  take  sover- 
eigns to  Java.  We  leave  in  the  morning,  at  daylight,  by 
mail  packet,  and  expect  to  return  here  in  a  month  to  take 
steamer  direct  to  Calcutta.  The  charge  for  passage  to 
Batavia  and  back  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  as  it  only 
takes  six  days,  it  is  at  least  enough  to  secure  the  company 
from  loss.  By  the  papers  I  see  that  they  are  making  great 
lions  of  the  Japanese  in  New  York;  the  great  ball  must 
have  astonished  them. 


LETTER    FROM   PEXANG.  27 

The  merchants  here  live  in  the  country,  which  is  very 
pretty;  the  roads  are  good,  and  the  ride  of  four  miles  quite 
pleasant.  Chinese  abound  here,  as  they  seem  to  everywhere 
in  the  East;  in  this  island  they  outnumber  the  Malays.  A 
few  days  ago,  an  enormous  tiger  was  taken  in  a  trap,  three 
miles  out  of  the  city;  he  was  a  very  different  animal  from 
what  one  sees  at  home.  Fruit  is  plentiful;  we  drink  the 
milk  of  the  fresh  cocoanut  before  breakfast;  the  pineapples, 
mangustines  and  several  other  kinds  are  very  fine. 

LETTER  FROM  PESTANG. 

PENANG,  OCT.  23,  1860. 

We  had  a  long  passage  from  Singapore  to  this  place ; 
the  wind  was  constantly  against  us,  with  remarkably  fine 
weather.  I  shall  go  to  Calcutta  in  the  steamer  which  leaves 
in  a  few  days.  I  write  a  short  letter,  as  my  last  was  very 
long,  giving  an  account  of  our  visit  at  Java,  of  what  places 
visited,  and  interesting  objects  seen  there. 

This  is  one  of  the  prettiest  places  I  have  ever  seen,  and  a 
pleasant  residence  for  a  short  time,  but  must  be  dull  after 
the  novelty  of  the  situation  has  passed.  Nutmegs  grow 
here  in  abundance,  and  the  tree  is  a  fine  one. 

The  letter  referred  to  above  was  never  received. 
We  were  sorry  for  the  loss,  as  it  contained  the 
account  of  the  voyage  to  Java,  and  of  his  visit  at 
the  island ;  also,  a  description  of  a  wild-boar  hunt  in 
the  mountains,  in  which  the  animal  was  shot  by 


28  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

Pickering,  but  not  at  first  killed.  He  had  a  guard 
of  natives,  armed  with  spears,  to  assist  in  killing,  and 
for  defence,  should  such  an  accident  happen.  When 
they  saw  the  beast  turn  to  the  attack,  they  ran, 
leaving  him  to  defend  himself;  he  gave  a  second 
charge  into  his  head,  without  disabling  him,  and 
then  followed  this  up  with  blows  from  the  but-end 
of  the  gun,  which  the  boar  seized  in  his  mouth,  grasp- 
ing with  it  Pickering's  fingers.  He  was  not  much 
hurt,  but  it  was  considered  unsafe  for  him  to  go  to 
the  heat  of  the  seashore,  and  he  had  to  remain  in 
the  mountains  until  the  hand  was  healed.  This  he 
regretted,  as  his  friends  had  to  leave  and  go  by  the 
steamer  to  Calcutta. 

LETTER   FROM  CALCUTTA. 

CALCUTTA,  Nov.  8,  1860. 

I  arrived  here  a  week  ago  from  Penang,  and,  before  land- 
ing, received  a  note  from  Mr.  W ,  inviting  me  to  his 

house.  I  am  now  with  him,  and  having  a  fine  time;  we 
have  been  living  in  the  country,  but  yesterday  moved  in.  I 
was  much  disappointed  in  the  date  of  my  letters,  expecting 
more  recent  ones.  I  have  written  to  London -to  have  my 
letter  of  credit,  and  all  my  letters,  sent  to  the  care  of  the 
United  States  Consul  at  Malta.  I  shall  not  go  to  Constan- 
tinople, but  direct  to  Paris,  and  to  Italy  at  Carnival.  I  see 
C F often,  and  receive  much  late  Salem  news  from 


LETTERS    FROM    PARIS.  29 

his  letters.  Calcutta  is  very  pleasant  now,  and  no  climate 
could  be  better  than  this  at  the  present  season,  and  it  is  now 
very  healthy;  the  cholera  has  raged,  and  the  season  just 
passed  has  been  one  of  the  very  worst.  We  ride  every 
morning  at  six.  I  expect  to  start  for  up  country  in  two 
days  with  three  of  the  passengers  by  steamer  from  Penang, 
— Mr.  and  Mrs.  Melbourne,  residents  of  Batavia  and  former 
acquaintances  at  that  place,  and  Mr.  CMferles  Dickens,  Jr.,  a 
son  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Dickens.  My  friends  resident 
here  advise  this  journey,  as  the  Indian  cities  are  well  worth 
seeing.  We  go  to  Rannegunge  by  rail — it  is  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  from  here;  we  shall  then  take  horse  dornk 
and  go  to  Benares,  Delhi,  Cawnpore,  Lucknow  and  Agra; 
from  thence  to  Bombay,  where  we  expect  to  arrive  the 
ninth  of  December.  We  have  written  to  engage  our  pas- 
sages by  the  mail  leaving  there  the  twelfth;  this  should 
bring  us  to  Marseilles  about  the  seventh  of  January. 

LETTERS   FROM   PARIS. 

PARIS,  15TH  JANUARY,  1861. 

I  received  letters  from  you  at  Malta,  sent  from  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  -letter  of  credit.  It  is  very  expensive 
travelling  by  the  overland  mail,  and  in  fact,  in  all  the  steam 
or  packet  vessels  in  the  East  Indies.  Your  last  letter 
received  was  of  October  2. 

The  day  after  my  last  letter,  our  party  started  from  Cal- 
cutta on  our  up-country  journey.  At  Rannegunge  we  took 
horse  dornk,  as  it  is  called,  for  the  North.  We  had  very 
good  ghurries ;  they  are  so  arranged  that  one  sits  up  or  lies 


30  PICKEKING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

down  by  changing  the  seats  ;  we  always  slept  in  them 
except  at  large  stations  where  there  were  hotels;  it  is  a 
very  comfortable  way  of  travelling,  and  we  all  enjoyed  the 
journey  very  much.  Our  first  stopping  place  was  Benares, 
then  Allahabad,  Cawnpore,  Lucknow,  Delhi,  -and  Agra. 
Lucknow  is  the  finest  city  and  next  comes  Delhi.  It  is 
really  wonderful  how  the  English  took  the  last  place  with 
so  small  a  force;  ffee  fortifications  are  very  strong.  The 
palace  of  the  King  of  Oude,  at  Lucknow,  is  a  wonderful 
place,  and  the  gardens  must  have  been  perfectly  splendid ; 
it  has  a  pond,  with  a  very  handsome  bridge  crossing  it 
built  of  white  marble,  and  there  are  several  pavilions,  of  the 
same  material,  of  very  fine  workmanship.  The  Taj,  at 
Agra,  is  the  finest  building  in  India;  it  is  of  the  finest  white 
marble  and  very  splendid;  and  there  are  two  tombs  of  the 
same.  .  When  at  Agra,  we  found  that  it  would  take  longer 
to  reach  Bombay  than  we  had  anticipated,  and  feared  that 
it  would  be  very  tiresome;  so  we  turned  and  travelled  as 
fast  as  possible  for  Calcutta,  arriving  there  in  time  for  the 
steamer,  which  sailed  early  the  next  morning. 

We  had  only  thirty-five  passengers  to  Galle,  Ceylon;  here 
we  found  as  many  more,  from  Australia  and  China.  The 
steamer  was  the  Malta,  a  fine  vessel  of  *nearly  two  thousand 
tons,  very  fast  and  comfortable.  We  stayed  at  Galle  two 
days,  which  was  long  enough  to  see  what  was  worth  our 
notice ;  two  and  a  half  days  at  Aden,  where  I  met  our 

townsman,  Mr.  J W ,  who  invited  me  to  his  home, 

where  I  remained  while  there;  and  in  Egypt  we  stopped 
two  and  a  half  days; — so  that  I  saw  much  without  waiting 
a  mail.  Mr.  Dickens,  with  whom  I  had  roomed  on  the 


LETTERS    FROM    PARIS.  31 

other  side,  left  here — he  waiting  a  mail.  We  now  took  a 
small  ship,  the  Valette,  of  only  seven  hundred  tons,  and, 
after  the  first  day,  had  rough  weather  and  an  uncomfortable 
passage  all  the  way  to  Malta. 

PARIS,  29TH  JANUARY. 

The  weather  has  been  exceedingly  disagreeable  most  of 
the  time  since  my  arrival.  I  take  a  lesson  in  French  every 
morning  and  gain  rapidly;  I  have  seen  many  of  the  won- 
ders of  Paris,  but  have  much  yet  to  see.  My  friends,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Melbourne,  with  whom  I  have  been  so  long,  left 
Paris  last  week  for  England.  The  news  from  the  United 
States  looks  very  blue,  and  worse  and  worse  every  mail. 
What  do  your  Memphis  and  Pontotoc  letters  say? 

PARIS,  SD  FEBRUARY,  1861. 

Last  night,  I  received  a  letter  from  you.  It  had  been  to 
London,  sent  thence  to  Malta,  returned  to  London,  and  sent 
to  me  here.  I  think  you  had  best  direct  my  letters  to  Paris 
for  the  next  three  months,  and  they  can  be  more  easily  for- 
warded to  me. 

So  you  never  received  my  letter  from  Singapore,  after  my 
return  from  Java.  It  was  a  very  long  one,  covering  six 
pages  of  large  letter  paper.  The  illness,  that  you  heard  o£, 
at  Singapore,  was  probably  in  Java ;  I  hurt  my  hand  at  a 
hunt  in  Bandary,  otherwise  I  have  not  been  unwell  since 
leaving  California.  Letters  from  the  States  say  that  it 
Is  the  opinion  of  the  merchants  of  New  York  that  our 
domestic  troubles  will  be  amicably  settled.  The  lost  letter 


32  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

contained  a  list  of  all  my  drafts  while  in  India;  so  will  send 
you  the  list  again.  I  wish  mother  would  send  me  a  list  of 
things  to  purchase  here,  suitable  for  home  presents. 

PARIS,  20TH  FEBRUARY. 

Mr.  A.  P and  myself  leave  to-morrow  morning  for 

the  south  of  France  and  Italy.  We  go  first  to  Marseilles,  and 
probably  through  Nice  to  Genoa,  Turin,  and  from  Genoa  to 
Naples  by  water,  as  it  is  not  now  safe  by  land.  I  have  read 
Minturn's  New  York  to  Delhi,  and  prefer  it  to  any  book  I 
have  read  on  India.  I  am  surprised  the  cactus  did  not  live, 
and  hope  the  D.  Godfrey  is  not  lost,  as  my  things  could  not 
be  replaced. 

I  have  seen  most  of  Paris;  the  suburbs  I  have  not, 
reserving  them  for  summer.  I  still  hope  our  national 
difficulties  will  be  arranged  without  disunion.  I  do  not 
expect  to  return  home  before  the  last  of  September. 

LETTER  FROM  NICE. 

NICE,  2D  MARCH,  1861. 

"We  left  Paris  the  twenty-fifth  February  for  Lyons  and 
Marseilles,  thence  to  Toulon,  visited  the  navy  yard  and  saw 
the  celebrated  iron-plated  ship  La  Gloire,  of  which  so  much 
has  been  said;  she  does  not  look  like  a  good  sea-boat,  so 
much  iron  making  her  too  heavy.  From  Toulon  we  went 
to  Hyeres,  ten  miles;  there  we  remained  two  days,  and 
were  much  pleased  with  what  we  saw;  thence  we  came  here. 
The  weather  now  is  as  fine  as  it  can  be ;  the  grass  is  as  green 


LETTER   FROM   NAPLES.  33 

as  in  June  with  us  at  home;  the  trees  are  in  bloom,  so  are 
the  wild  flowers  and  in  the  gardens  I  have  seen  some  roses, 
and  the  orange  trees  are  full  of  fruit  and  look  beautifully. 
There  are  many  English  people  spending  the  winter  here, 
but  very  few  Americans. 

People  here  who  were  in  Naples  a  few  weeks  ago  say  that 
it  is  perfectly  safe  there,  and  that  travellers  can  get  along 
well, — the  newspapers  representing  things  much  worse  than 
the  reality;  we  expect  to  be  there  in  ten  days  and  after  a 
short  stop  go  to  Rome.  We  went  by  railroad  from  Mar- 
seilles to  Toulon,  and  the  train  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
accident;  several  rocks,  weighing  tons  each,  fell  on  the 
track  only  a  few  minutes  before  our  arrival  at  the  place ; 
we  were  detained  four  or  five  hours  before  they  could  be 
removed,  no  one  was  hurt. 

LETTER  FROM  NAPLES. 

NAPLES,  20TH  MARCH,  1861. 

. 
From.  Nice  we  went  to  Genoa  by  diligence,  over  one  of 

the  prettiest  roads  running  along  by  the  shore  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. We  were  two  days  going,  and  the  weather  was 
delightful.  After  a  short  stay  at  Genoa  we  took  an  English 
steamer  for  this  city,  stopping  at  Leghorn,  which  place  I 
did  not  recognize,  notwithstanding  the  brig  Governor  Endi- 
cott,  with  a  painting  of  the  port,  always  hung  over  my 
washstand  in  my  chamber  at  home.  We  were  fortunate  in 
having  two  good  days  for  our  sea-passage ;  it  has  been  very 
rough  generally  this  spring,  and  the  boats  that  left  here 
recently  had  to  put  back. 


84  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

We  are  in  the  fourth  story  of  the  Hotel  Grand  Bretagne, 
with  a  fine  view  of  the  bay.  The  weather  is  windy  and 
only  tolerably  good.  "We  are  very  busy,  as  there  is  so  much 
to  be  seen  of  interest  here;  two  or  three  days  we  have 
devoted  to  the  Museum,  where  are  deposited  the  articles 
taken  from  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  one  day  we  went  to 
Pompeii,  and  last  Saturday  we  ascended  Vesuvius.  The  day 
was  very  fine  and  clear,  and  the  view  beautiful ;  the  ascent 
was  much  easier  than  we  expected  from  the  description  of  it 
in  Hillard's  and  Murray's  Italy.  Sunday  evening  we  went 
to  Sorento,  and  from  there  to  Salerno,  and  Psestum,  where 
the  Greek  ruins  are  more  than  twenty-four  hundred  years 
old ;  they  are  in  good  preservation,  and  are  considered 
among  the  finest  ruins  in  Italy.  We  shall  leave  in  two  days 
for  Rome,  by  land,  as  it  is  now  perfectly  safe, — stopping  one 
day  at  Gaeta,  being  at  Rome  during  the  ceremonies  of 
holy  week.  There  I  hope  to  find  an  accumulation  of  letters, 
as  it  is  sometime  since  I  have  received  any. 

« 
LETTERS  FROM  ROME. 

ROME,  APRIL  2,  1861. 

I  received  yesterday  your  letters  of  nineteenth  and  twenty- 
sixth  February  and  March  fifth;  they  should  have  been  here 
before,  and  in  future  you  had  best  send  all  letters  to  London 
to  be  forwarded  to  me  as  heretofore;  this  is  the  only  safe 
course.  We  came  here  by  vettura  from  Naples,  stopping 
at  Gaeta,  and  arrived  a  week  ago ;  we  had  trouble  in  finding 
rooms,  the  city  is  so  crowded;  we  were  fortunate  in  the 


LETTERS    FROM   ROME.  35 

weather  from  Kaples.  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  the  Japan- 
ese things  have  arrived  safely,  and  that  you  think  them 
handsome. 

We  have  been  present  at  all  the  ceremonies  of  holy  week, 
and  have  been  fortunate  in  obtaining  good  positions.  Last 
evening  the  illumination,  postponed  from  Sunday  on  account 
of  the  weather,  took  place;  it  was  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful sights  I  have  ever  witnessed ;  the  night  was  calm, 
and  very  fine  for  the  purpose.  To-night  we  expect  the 
display  of  fireworks. 

I  find  St.  Peter's  surpasses  all  my  expectations;  it  is  most 
wonderful.  We  have  not  done  much  at  sight-seeing  in  gen- 
eral, as  the  services  of  holy  week  have  consumed  all  our 
time ;  still  we  have  visited  some  of  the  galleries  of  paintings 
and  part  of  the  Vatican,  the  Coliseum,  and  Forum.  We 
shall  no  doubt  remain  here  two  or  three  weeks  longer;  then 
we  shall  go  to  Florence. 

I  hope  our  political  troubles  may  be  settled,  but  to  me 
they  look  blue  enough;  I  like  Mr.  Lincoln's  address,  and 
think  it  good  and  sensible,  and  hope  he  may  be  able  to  do 
some  good.  Write  me  about  the  Salem  Infantry,  and  tell 
me  who  are  the  officers  besides  Captain  Devereux. 

ROME,  OTH  AND  15Tti  APRIL. — These  letters  are 
devoted  to  the  churches  and  galleries,  and  to  the 
uncertain  and  complicated  condition  of  our  political 
affairs. 


36  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

LETTER  FROM  BOLOGKA. 

BOLOGNA,  APRIL  28,  1861. 

We  arrived  yesterday,  from  Florence,  by  the  diligence. 
I  leave  to-morrow,  for  Milan;  shall  stay  only  a  day,  as 
there  is  but  little  to  see  besides  the  Cathedral;  and  thence 
to  Venice,  for  a  few  days.  I  have  your  letters  of  twenty- 
seventh  March  and  the  second  of  April,  and  have  seen  the 
late  Boston  papers.  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  war;  but  if 
Davis  has  as  many  men  under  arms  as  the  papers  state,  it 
will  be  very  difficult  to  keep  them  quiet.  Their  credit  is 
poor  enough  here,  and  it  will  not  be  an  easy  matter  to 
raise  money  for  them. 

The  day  before  leaving  Florence,  we  joined  Mr.  Appleton 
and  a  party  from  Boston,  who  had  special  permission  to 
visit  the  palace  of  Prince  Demidoif.  This  is  the  only  one 
that  I  have  seen  in  Europe  that  equals  my  idea  of  what  a 
palace  should  be.  It  is  probably  the  finest  in  Europe; 
there  are  twenty-one  rooms  on  the  first  floor,  all  of  them 
very  splendid.  He  is  a  Russian ;  is  the  owner  of  a  mine  of 
malachite,  and  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  world. 
There  are  vases,  fire  places  and  tables  made  of  it,  and  so 
abundant  is  its  use  that  you  would  suppose  it  to  be  of  no 
more  value  than  marble.  We  saw  also  any  quantity 
of  gold  and  silver  vases,  dinner  services,  besides  lots  of 
precious  stones,  of  all  sorts. 


LETTERS    FROM    MILAN    AND    VIENNA.  37 


LETTER  FROM  MILAN. 

MILAN,  APRIL  30. 

I  had  a  long  day,  yesterday,  in  the  cars  from  seven  In 
the  morning  until  eleven  at  night.  The  London  papers 
of  the  twenty-seventh  have  just  been  received,  with  the 
news  of  the  taking  of  Sumter.  I  cannot  understand  it; 
forty  hours  cannonading,  and  no  one  killed  on  either  side; 
the  firing  must  have  been  very  bad.  I  suppose  the  border 
States  will  now  secede,  and,  if  they  do  not,  they  will  furnish 
the  South  with  troops  and  do  us  as  much  injury  as  if  openly 
against  us.  If  a  regular  war  is  to  take  place,  I  think  it  best 
for  me  to  return  home,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  be  away.  Will 
you  write  me,  as  soon  as  you  receive  this,  and  tell  me  what 
you  think  I  had  best  do  ?  If  you  write  immediately,  the 
letter  will  be  in  London  in  five  weeks.  I  am  going  to 
Venice  to-morrow. 

LETTER  FROM  VIENNA. 

VIENNA,  MAY  10,  1861. 

I  have  your  letter  of  the  twenty-third  of  April.  We 
cannot  get  any  late  American  papers  here,  but  the  Londoa 
Times  is  full  of  extracts  from  them;  the  excitement  must  be 
tremendous.  I  hope  the  Southerners  will  not  be  able  to 
take  Washington  ;  should  they  do  so,  the  effect  abroad 
would  be  very  bad  for  our  cause.  I  am  sorry  that  the 
President  had  not  called  Congress  together  sooner,  and 
caused  an  increase  of  the  regular  army ;  I  would  a  thousand 
4 


38  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

times  prefer  fifty  thousand  regulars  to  double  that  number 
of  militia;  the  men  have  not*  the  least  idea  of  what  they  will 
suffer.  Our  Commissariat  department  is  poor  enough.  "We 
must  hold  Baltimore,  if  we  are  to  keep  troops  at  Washington 
well  supplied.  I  did  not  realize  how  troops  lived  in  time  of 
war,  until  seeing  them  before  Gaeta,  and  this  was  one  of 
the  best  equipped  armies  that  ever  took  the  field,  and  we 
were  there  too  late  to  see  the  worst  of  it.  About  sixteen 
men  lived  in  a  very  small  hut,  made  of  mud,  in  most  cases 
without  any  windows;  they  were  at  times  wet,  hot,  cold,  and 
always  nasty.  It  is  dreadful  to  think  how  this  will  kill  off 
our  men,  if  they  go  through  a  winter's  campaign;  and  a 
summer  one  in  Virginia  would  not  be  much  better.  The 
Southerners,  in  all  these  things,  would  be  no  better  off,  but 
they  would  have  the  advantage  of  being  on  familiar  ground 
and  where  the  population  are  all  favorable  to  them.  They 
have  good  officers,  having  had  military  schools,  where  many 
young  men  have  received  tolerably  good  education,  while 
we  at  the  north  have  looked  at  military  men  as  useless  and 
lazy  fellows;  and  they  have  been  less  respected  in  New 
England,  of  late,  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  civilized 
world.  Still,  war  cannot  be  carried  on  with  success  without 
money,  and  they  certainly  will  find  it  difficult  to  maintain 
an  army  for  any  great  length  of  time ;  and  here  we  have  the 
advantage.  • 

I  shall  probably  sail  for  home  in  a  few  weeks,  as  I  see  no 
prospect  for  peace  at  present.  I  feel  sad  enough,  as  we 
have  none  of  the  excitement  of  arming  to  relieve  the  de- 
pressing influences  of  the  state  of  affairs.  I  shall  not  stay 
abroad;  all  the  pleasure  of  travelling  has  gone.  How  many 


LETTERS    FROM    PARIS.  39 

men  did  the  Infantry  take  to  Washington?  I  see  that  a 
Massachusetts  regiment  is  at  Fortress  Monroe.  We  are 
very  anxious  for  later  news,  and  expect  it  by  to-day's  mail. 
We  were  thirty-two  hours  from  Venice  to  Yienna,  and  most 
of  the  way  the  snow  was  several  inches  deep,  the  route  being 
on  high  land. 

LETTERS    FROM    PARIS. 

PARIS,  MAY  21,  1861. 

We  arrived  here  from  Berlin  last  Saturday,  and  have 
engaged  passages  in  the  Arabia  for  home.  She  is  the  next 
Boston  boat,  and  sails  in  a  week,  so  you  may  expect  to  see 
me  in  a  few  days  after  this  reaches  you.  We  could  not  get 
any  later  home  papers  in  Germany,  and  the  letters  were  full 
of  war  news.  Yours  of  the  thirtieth  arrived  this  morning, 
after  several  days'  delay  in  London.  We  have  American 
news  to  the  eighth,  and,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  telegraphed  for 
more  troops,  I  expect  to  hear  of  a  fight  by  the  next  mail.  I 
am  very  sorry  so  many  of  our  Southern  relatives  are  seces- 
sionists :  I  do  not  see  how  it  is  possible  for  any  right-minded 
person  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede.  I  do 
not  see  what  we  can  do  should  we  conquer  them.  With  our 
idea  of  a  government  of  the  people,  how  are  we  to  hold  them 
against  their  will?  The  whole  matter  is  involved  in  diffi- 
culties. One  good  must  come  from  it,  however,  as  it  settles 
for  the  States  remaining  in  the  Union  this  question,  that 
they  have  no  right  to  secede.  It  is  useless  now  to  be  look- 
ing at  the  future;  our  present  duty  is  to  give  them  a  good 
thrashing,  and  to  teach  them  to  hold  different  opinions  of 


40  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

the  relative  pluck  of  Northern  and  Southern  men.  I  am 
glad  the  government  are  so  vigorously  at  work.  Butler 
seems  to  have  done  wonders,  and  this  enlisting  of  men  for 
three  and  five  years  is  just  the  right  course. 

MORNING  OF  22D  MAY. 

Have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  sixth.  You  say 
that  the  Infantry  number  one  hundred  and  twenty.  What  a 
large  company!  I  should  think  most  of  the  army  officers 
have  resigned,  by  the  number  of  names  one  sees  in  the 
papers.  , 

I  do  not  feel  so  confident  as  you  do  as  to  the  position  of 
the  States  of  Kentucky,  Missouri  and  Maryland,  and  hope 
they  will  not  be  allowed  to  remain  neutral.  Should  they  be 
thus  situated  they  would  supply  the  South  with  food  and 
men,  and  do  ns  more  harm  than  if  openly  opposed.  I  do 
not  believe  in  any  half-way  at  this  time.  You  must  be  for 
or  against  the  Government. 

He  arrived  in  Salem  on  the  twelfth  day  of  June, 
1861.  He  was  very  much  interested  in  the  mili- 
tary, and  was  constantly  with  officers,  and  young 
men  who  were  proposing  to  become  such  and  raise 
troops  for  the  army.  His  parents  endeavored 
to  dissuade  him  from  doing  so,  and  used  every 
argument  in  their  power  to  prevent  it.  He  did 
not  meet  with  any  encouragement  at  the  State 
House,  and,  as  he  would  not  enlist  with  the  refusal 


PATRIOTISM   STIRRED.  41 

of  the  consent  of  his  parents,  the  summer  passed 
without  his  doing  so.  He  was  absent  in  Vermont 
part  of  this  time,  and  his  letters  from  there  (none  of 
which,  unfortunately,  were  preserved)  expressed  the 
strongest  desire  to  join  the  army,  coupled  with 
undoubted  feeling  that  it  was  his  duty  to  do  so. 
He  conversed  more  upon  this  subject  with  his  mother 
than  to  his  father,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  she 
would  listen  more  patiently  to  his  arguments.  At 
last,  he  was  evidently  so  unhappy  at  his  position 
and  felt  mortified  at  being  unoccupied  at  home, 
using  this  argument  to  obtain  my  consent, — that  he 
was  single,  had  no  business,  was  in  health,  and  had 
some  little  acquaintance  with  the  military  life, — If 
such  as  he  did  not  volunteer,  how  was  the  army  to 
be  raised,  and  kept  supplied  with  men?  Finally, 
becoming  convinced  that  it  was  wrong  to  further 
oppose  him  in  his  performing  what  he  thought  it 
was  his  duty  to  do,  I  ceased  all  opposition,  and. 
although  I  never  gave  my  consent  by  word,  he  knew 
that  he  had  my  approval. 

October  twenty-seventh,  1861,  he  signed  the  enlist- 
ment papers,  and  was  authorized  to  recruit  thirty 
men,  for  cavalry,  to  join  General  Butler's  New 
England  Division.  This  cavalry  was  to  be  under 
the  command  of  S.  Tyler  Read,  and  was  to  be  called 

4* 


42  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN, 

Mounted  Rifle  Rangers.  He  opened  a  recruiting 
office  in  Salem,  and  at  other  places,  and  obtained  the 
men,  who  went  into  camp  at  Lowell  as  fast  as 
engaged, — he,  in  the  meantime,  being  engaged  in 
duty  in  camp,  or  on  recruiting  service,  in  Salem  or 
Boston,  or  in  travelling  to  look  up  men  suitable  for 
this  service,  which  required  picked  men,  of  full 
stature,  and  competent  to  make  good  horsemen  as 
well  as  good  soldiers. 

In  November,  he  was  commissioned  Second  Lieu- 
tenant in  the  Twentieth  Regiment  Massachusetts  In- 
fantry, by  Governor  Andrew.  This  was  done  without 
his  knowledge  or  his  application,  and  respectfully 
declined  by  letter,  with  the  reason  given  for  declin- 
ing, that  he  had  previously  enlisted  in  the  New 
England  Division.  During  the  latter  part  of  Decem- 
ber, Lieutenant  Pickman,  with  a  detail  of  ten  men  of 
the  cavalry,  left  Boston  in  a  sailing  ship,  with  more 
than  one  hundred  Government  horses,  as  a  supply 
for  the  troops  in  part.  "With  these  Lieutenant  Pick- 
man and  Pickering  sent  their  own  horses,  private 
property.  The  ship  encountered  a  storm  in  the 
bay,  the  first  night  out,  in  which  all  of  the  horses 
but  ten  were  killed,  and  these  were  so  injured  as 
to  be  of  little  value. 


MOUNTED   RIFLE   RANGERS.  48 

CAPTAIN  BEAD'S  MOUNTED  RIFLE  BANGERS. 

The  following  is  the  Roster  of  commissioned  officers 
of  Captain  Read's  squadron  of  Mounted  Rifled  Rangers, 
attached  to  Major-General  Butler's  Grand  Division: — 

Captain  commanding  the  squadron — 

S.  TYLER  READ,  Attleborough,  Mass. 
Second  Captain — 

JAMES  M.  MAGEE,  Carlisle  Barracks,  Penn. 
Senior  First  Lieutenant — 

J.  E.  COWEN,  Fairhaven,  Mass. 
Junior  First  Lieutenant — 

ALBERT  G.  BOWLES,  Roxbury,  Mass. 
Senior  Second  Lieutenant — 

BENJAMIN  PICKMAN,  Salem,  Mass. 
Junior  Second  Lieutenant — 

PICKERING  D.  ALLEN,  Salem,  Mass. 

Captain  Read  has  been  engaged  actively  in  the  present 
war  from  its  very  incipiency.  He  was  with  the  Sixth 
Regiment  in  its  stormy  passage  through  Baltimore,  was 
temporarily  on  Ellsworth's  Staff  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  and 
was  with  the  lamented  and  gallant  young  Colonel  when  he 
fell  in  the  Marshall  House  at  Alexandria,  subsequently  in 
the  battle  of  Big  Bethel,  and  afterward  acted  as  Provost 
Marshal  on  the  outposts  at  Fortress  Monroe  until  he  came 
North  to  raise  in  his  native  State  the  splendid  body  of  men 
which  he  now  commands. 

Captain  Magee  is  an  officer  from  the  regular  service,  and 


44  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

was  second  in  command  at  the  burning  of  the  arsenal  at 
Harper's  Ferry.  Lieutenant  Cowen  was  attached  to  the 
corps  of  Engineers  in  the  New  York  Eighth  Regiment,  and 
was  in  the  heat  of  the  battle  at  Bull  Run,  in  which  he  was 
slightly  wounded.  The  remaining  lieutenants  of  the  corps 
are  men  of  experience  which  well  adapts  them  to  their 
positions.  The  squadron  has  been  raised  by  selection  to  a 
high  standard  of  excellence,  enough  applications  having 
been  rejected  since  the  opening  of  its  enlistment  rolls  to  fill 
a  regiment.  They  are  tall,  athletic,  vigorous  men,  of  reliable 
character,  and  present  the  finest  appearance  of  any  corps 
which  has  yet  left  for  the  war. 

Lieutenant  Pickman,  in  charge  of  a  detachment  of  the 
men,  with  the  horses  and  equipments  of  the  corps,  left  for 
Ship  Island  several  days  since.  The  remainder  of  the 
squadron  will  embark  on  the  Constitution  for  the  same 
destination.  They  carry  heavy  sabres  and  short  rifles,  and 
are  to  be  provided  with  revolvers  beside. 

Although  enlisting  in  October,  he  was  not  sworn 
and  mustered  into  the  service  until  the  twenty-seventh 
day  of  December,  1861.  The  cause  of  this  delay  was 
that  when  the  United  States  mustering  officer  was  at 
camp  in  Lowell,  for  that  purpose,  he  was  absent  on 
recruiting  duty,  at  offices  in  Boston  or  Salem,  or  in 
travelling  through  the  State  in  pursuit  of  men  capa- 
ble of  performing  cavalry  duty.  His  position  was 
that  of  Second  Lieutenant  of  Captain  Magee's  Com- 
pany, enough  men  having  been  enlisted  for  two 


GENERAL  BUTLER'S  EXPEDITION.       45 

companies, — and  a   third    company   of  cavalry    had 
also  been  enlieted  at  Lowell. 

Neither  Pickering,  or  myself  for  him,  desired  a  too 
responsible  position.  Both  of  us  had  seen  large 
armies  engaged  in  war,  or  about  to  do  so,— had  been 
over  battle  fields,  and  had  seen  enough  to  teach  us 
how  little  we  actually  did  know,  and  were  well  aware 
of  the  want  of  military  education  in  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  officers  of  our  volunteers.  The  com- 
pany left  Camp  Chase  in  Lowell,  January  2,  1862, 
for  Boston,  were  inspected  on  the  Common  by  Major 
General  Butler,  embarked  the  same  afternoon  on 
board  the  steamship  Constitution,  with  Colonel 
Shepley's  Maine  Regiment  and  Colonel  French's 
Massachusetts.  The  ship  went  into  the  stream,  and 
anchored  at  evening.  The  night  was  exceedingly 
cold  and  windy  ;  in  consequence  the  men  suffered 
severely.  After  a  few  days,  steam -pipes  were 
arranged  around  the  hold  of  the  ship  and  they 
were  made  more  comfortable.  The  cold  weather 
continued  many  days,  and  the  ship  remained  in  the 
harbor.  This  detention  was  very  tedious  and  dispir- 
iting to  both  officers  and  men  ;  the  more  so,  as,  for 
military  reasons,  the  cause  could  not  be  made  known. 
It  was  supposed,  then,  to  be  a  consequence  of  the 
controversy  between  Governor  Andrew  and  Major- 


46  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

General  Butler ;  but  from  a  recent  statement  of  the 
latter,  it  seems  that  it  was  caused  by  the  threatening 
aspect  of  our  relations  with  European  nations,  more 
particularly  with  England.  On  the  tenth  of  Jan- 
uary, the  troops  were  ordered  to  land,  and  Colonel 
French's  regiment  commenced  to  disembark.  Three 
companies  had  pitched  their  tents  in  Fort  Indepen- 
dence, when  orders  were  received  to  sail  for  Fortress 
Monroe.  This  change  in  the  aspect  of  things  put 
all  in  high  spirits. 

EXTKACTS  FROM  LETTERS  AND  DIARY. 
Pickering  then  goes  on  to  say  in  his  journal : — 

•ft 

On  the  thirteenth,  the  cold  still  continuing  extreme,  we 
sail  early  in  the  morning,  with  a  strong  northwest  wind — the 
sea  not  rough  for  this  coast  in  winter. 

We  arrive  at  Fortress  Monroe  January  sixteenth.  In  the 
forenoon  I  went  to  the  Rip  Raps,  and  then  on  shore  to  see 
my  friend  Merriam;  ascertained  that  he  had  gone  home  on 
furlough.  Passed  the  night  with  Lieutenant  Cartwright, 
of  the  old  New  England  Guards,  and  went  on  board  ship 
morning  of  seventeenth. 

On  Monday,  the  twentieth,  all  the  men  were  disembarked 
and  landed  on  the  beach,  near  the  Fortress,  for  change  of 
air  and  cleaning  of  the  ship ;  being  in  charge  of  the  guard, 
have  had  some  hard  work;  the  weather  was  as  fine  as  possi- 
ble. At  dark  it  rained,  with  a  thunder  storm,  which  lasted 


LETTERS    AND    DIARY.  47 

all  night;  the  men  suffered  from  wet,  as  very  few  of  them 
were  well  sheltered  and  many  of  them  not  at  all. 

22o  JANUARY. — The  storm  continues,  but  the  tents  are 
all  ready,  with  the  sand  very  wet. 

23D . — The  weather  is  worse ;  windy,  with  rain  and  hail. 

24TH. — More  stormy  than  ever,  windy  and  rainy.  In  the 
afternoon  we  are  flooded  by  the  tide ;  strike  camp  and  go  to 
the  woods,  where  we  pass  the  night  in  our  tents, — we  and 
all  our  things  are  well  soaked. 

25TH,  MORNING. — It  is  still  raining,  with  much  less  wind 
and  a  change  in  its  direction;  we  begin  to  think  it  will 
never  clear.  It  clears  at  noon,  and  looks  as  if  it  would  con- 
tinue so.  Not  feeling  well,  I  go  on  board  the  ship  to  consult 
the  Doctor. 

A  letter — dated  on  board  ship  Constitution — of 
twenty-seventh  January,  says, — 

I  have  the  measles;  this,  you  know,  is  the  second  time; 
we  have  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  cases  on  board,  but 
very  little  other  sickness.  Quite  a  number  have  the  measles 
the  second  time;  it  is  slight  and  does  not  last  more  than  four 
or  five  days,  in  these  instances,  when  in  the  full,  or  fresh 
subjects,  it  runs  fourteen.  This  is  my  third  day,  and  I  am 
almost  well.  We  have  only  a  few  cases  in  our  company  and 
I  do  not  expect  many  more,  as  all  the  men  are  encamped  on 
the  beach,  below  Fortress  Monroe,  and  those  having  it  are 
on  board  ship,  where  they  are  very  comfortable.  I  expect 
to  be  all  right  in  a  day  or  two,  and  shall  be  careful  not  to 
take  cold. 


48  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

Last  week  was  a  tough  one  ;  the  weather  was  very  bad 
and  we  were  encamped  on  the  beach.  We  landed  Monday 
morning — of  a  splendid  day;  but  before  night  a  severe  storm 
commenced  and  many  of  the  men  were  all  night  without  any 
shelter,  although  most  of  the  tents  were  pitched.  I  was 
Lieutenant  of  the  guard,  and  our  company  were,  most  of 
them,  detailed  for  that  duty.  I  quartered,  when  not  on  duty, 
on  board  a  small  steamboat.  The  storm  lasted  until  Satur- 
day noon.  Friday  evening  the  tide  had  become  so  high, 
from  the  wind  blowing  strong  in  the  same  direction  such  a 
length  of  time,  that  our  camp  was  overflowed,  and  we  had 
to  strike  our  tents  and  go  to  the  woods  and  pitch  them  there 
until  morning,  when  the  wind  changed ;  and  since  that  after- 
noon the  weather  has  been  fine. 

Merriam  is  stationed  about  a  mile  from  the  Fortress,  at 
Camp  Hamilton,  where  there  are  two  or  three  regiments. 
A  New  York  regiment  in  the  Fortress  and.  other  regiments 
near  here  drill  remarkably  well,  and  are  under  good  disci- 
pline. The  news  from  Kentucky  is  cheering,  and  I  hope 
we  shall  soon  hear  of  another  battle,  on  a  larger  scale,  with 
similar  result.  The  fortifications  on  the  Rip  Raps  are  to  bfc 
very  powerful,  but  much  smaller  than  Fortress  Monroe. 
The  United  States  sloop  Pensacola  sails  to-day  for  Ship 
Island,  and  we  hope  to  do  so  sometime  this  week.  Pickman 
must  be  melancholy  there,  but  he  will  find  plenty  of  work 
if  he  and  the  ten  men  still  have  charge  .of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  horses.  I  have  not  yet  received  any  letter  from  you, 
but  hope  to  soon.  Suppose  you  are  waiting  for  me  to  give 
directions  how  to  send. 


LETTERS   AND   DIARY.  49 


CAMP  HAMILTON,  FEBRUARY  1. 

Your  letter,  with  a  Salem  Gazette,  has  just  arrived. 
I  am  well  again,  and  came  on  shore  yesterday.  As  it 
was  rainy,  came  out  here  and  passed  the  night  with 
Merriam ;  as  the  rain  continues,  shall  stay  until  to-morrow 
morning.  I  have  just  returned  from  our  camp,  where  I 
went  on  Merriam's  horse;  it  is  about  three  miles  from  here, 
and  the  road  leading  there  is  muddy  enough.  Our  men  are 
very  comfortable;  every  tent  has  a  fire  in  it,  and  plenty  of 
wood  is  furnished.  The  measles  are  subsiding,  the  number 
of  cases  diminishing  rapidly;  but  a  few  cases  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts regiments.  Merriam  has  fine  quarters, — the  lower 
part  of  wood  and  the  upper  of  canvas,  and  as  comfortable 
as  possible.  We  are  now  waiting  for  a  fair  day  to  embark, 
as  Colonel  Shepley  arrived  from  Washington,  on  the  thirtieth 
of  January,  with  sailing  orders.  We  are  going  to  Ship  Island. 

The  first  Salem  papers  received  gave  me  the  news  of  C 

P 's  release.    We  get  all  our  news  from  the  New  York 

papers,  with  occasional  rumors  here,  which  most  always 
prove  false.  Last  Sunday  we  could  see  the  secession  flag, 
flying  over  their  works  the  other  side  of  Sewall's  Point, 
plainly  enough  to  distinguish  the  colors ;  it  has  not  been  up 
since.  This  camp  is  quite  large;  there  are  three  or  four 
regiments,  besides  the  Massachusetts  Sixteenth,  and  one  of 
cavalry,  of  twelve  hundred  men,  from  Pennsylvania.  A  very 
fine  band,  attached  to  the  New  York  Twentieth,  is  next  to 

this.    I  saw  W this  morning,  he  is  very  well ;  if  he  is 

in  want  of  anything,  will  see  that  he  has  a  supply.    Officers 

5 


50  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

and  others  are  continually  coming  in  the  tent  and  going,  so 
you  must  expect  a  remarkable  letter.  The  Constitution  has 
changed  her  position,  nearer  the  wharf,  and  has  taken  in 
fresh  provisions  and  a  new  stock  of  coal,  and  is  ready  for 
sea.  We  received  several  days  since,  from  Head-Quarters 
of  the  Army  at  Washington,  an  order  appointing  us  to  act 
as  officers  of  the  First,  Second  and  Third  Companies  of 
Cavalry  of  the  New  England  Division,  to  be  attached  to 
Colonel  French's  Regiment  while  dismounted,  and  stating 
that  the  commissions  would  date  from  the  time  we  were 
mustered  into  the  United  States  service. 

SUNDAY,  FEBRUARY  2.— This  is  a  fine  day,  and  the 
men  are  going  on  board  ship.  We  shall  probably  sail 
to-morrow. 

SHIP  ISLAND,  13TH  FEBRUARY. 

We  arrived  yesterday,  and  landed  immediately.  Our 
camp  is  on  the  right;  pitching  our  tents  and  other  work 
gave  us  a  fatiguing  day.  We  left  Fortress  Monroe  on  Tues- 
day morning,  fourth  instant,  and  returned  the  next  day,  with 
the  United  States  gunboat  Miami  in  tow  in  distress,  a  new 
boat,  built  in  Philadelphia.  We  did  not  sail  again  until  next 
day,  so  that  we  felt  quite  discouraged  at  the  repeated  delays. 
We  have  had  perfect  weather  since.  The  voyage  was  a 
splendid  one;  the  health  of  the  men  improved,  and  we  have 
now  scarcely  any  sickness,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  cases 
of  pneumonia,  some  of  these  quite  serious  on  the  measles 
patients,  from  exposure  after  convalescence.  The  measles 
have  almost  disappeared.  I  am  perfectly  well,  so  is  W . 


LETTERS    AND    DIARY.  51 

Lieutenant  Pickman  and  men  arrived  safely;  they  lost  all 
the  horses  but  five,  out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  odd.  Our 
own  fine  horses  died.  Will  you  purchase  and  send  me  half 
a  dozen  pairs  of  blue  goggles  by  the  first  opportunit3r.  To- 
day two  or  three  secesh  gunboats  made  their  appearance, 
some  of  ours  chased  them.  They  fired  at  each  other  at  the 
longest  range,  without  doing  any  damage.  So  many  horses 
have  been  lost,  we  may  have  to  wait  several  days  longer  for 
others  on  the  way  before  mounting  the  men.  At  this  time 
there  are  not  half  the  required  number  here.  The  island  is 
not  so  gloomy  a  place  as  I  expected,  andras  there  are  now 
four  infantry  regiments  and  our  cavalry  and  the  battery 
of  artillery,  it  seems  quite  cheerful.  The  regiments  that 
came  before  us  have  improved  much  in  drill  and  discipline, 
and  we  now  hope  to  do  so  rapidly.  I  expect  to  enjoy  the 
work.  I  am  now  to  act  as  adjutant  of  the  battalion,  with  one 
of  the  orderly  sergeants  as  sergeant  major.  Probably  we 
shall  have  our  horses  next  week;  we  do  not  want  them 
before.  It  will  be  uncertain  when  and  how  we  shall  have 
opportunity  to  write,  but  trust  it  will  not  be  so  with  you. 
To-morrow  General  Phelps  will  inspect  us,  and  we  are  to 
drill  before  him. 

FEBRUARY  18.— The  Constitution  has  been  delayed  by 
bad  weather  and  fog.  Our  camp,  on  the  right,  is  nearly 
a  mile  from  the  wharf,  or  fort,  or  city,  as  it  is  called. 
We  are  very  well;  so  are  most  of  the  men.  The  weather 
has  been  very  bad  for  three  or  four  days.  Three  of  our 
men,  who  had  been  detailed  to  take  charge  of  baggage 
on  the  Constitution,  left  here  in  a  surf-boat  the  night  of  the 
sixteenth  instant,  and  have  not  been  heard  from  since.  One 


52  PICKERING   DODGE  ALLEN. 

of  them  was  recently  made  quarter-master  sergeant  by 
Captain  Read — he  had  five  letters  of  recommendation,  was 
a  Southerner;  the  second  was  an  Englishman;  the  third 
was  Hurter,  born  in  Syria,  son  of  an  American  Mis- 
sionary. They  may  have  been  blown  to  sea;  probably 
they  have  deserted;  and  it  is  possible  they  are  stowed 
away  in  some  ship. 

MARCH  5. — A  steamer  will  leave  to-night  or  to-morrowT 
and  I  write,  although  there  is  very  little  news  here  that  you 
have  not  heard  long  before.  I  have  seen  New  Orleans 
papers  of  the  last,  of  February.  We  seem  to  have  gained 
several  important  victories.  Twelve  thousand  prisoners, 
taken  in  Tennessee,  appears  to  be  a  small  estimate,  or  three 
thousand  at  Roanoke  Island.  Have  heard  from  the  three 
men  who  left  us,  or  rather  the  Constitution;  they  landed  at 
Mississippi  City,  and  are  now  in  New  Orleans.  In  their 
account  of  the  troops  on  the  island,  they  omit  the  Connecti- 
cut Ninth  Infantry,  and  give  our  number  as  one  hundred 
and  eighteen,  when,  in  reality,  the  three  companies  number 
over  two  hundred  and  sixty.  We  have  had  very  cold 
weather  recently.  A  party  have  been  on  Horn  Island  the 
last  two  days  ;  they  brought  back  ten  cattle,  and  a  negro 
they  found  there.  He  had  drifted  there  in  a  boat,  and  could 
not  get  back  to  the  main  land ;  he  was  almost  starved 
when  he  arrived  here.  The  men  are  healthy  and  in  good 
spirits.  Recently,  we  had  a  review  of  the  four  regiments^ 
our  cavalry,  and  the  Salem  Artillery;  it  passed  off  finely, 
although  the  day  was  hot;  it  was  intended  as  a  compliment 
to  the  new  flag-officer,  who  is  to  command  the  gunboat  and 
mortar  flotilla  proposed  to  be  sent  up  the  river. 


LETTERS    AND    DIARY.  53 

The  gunboat  New  London  is  very  active  and  captures 
many  small  craft;  one  morning  she  brought  in  eleven  oyster 
and  fishing  boats,  of  twenty  or  thirty  tons;  as  they  were 
mainly  loaded  with  oysters,  we  were  well  supplied  for  a  few 
days.  The  South  Carolina  brought  in  the  Southern  steamer 
Magnolia,  loaded  with  cotton ;  she  is  valued  at  two  or  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  vessel  and  cargo. 

I  am  expecting  to  hear  from  you  soon  ;  have  not  yet. 

W is  well,  and  wrote  home  a  few  days  ago.  I  expected 

the  mail  steamer  would  remain  until  to-morrow,  but  now 
hear  she  will  sail  this  afternoon,  so  must  close.  We  have 
now  over  two  hundred  horses,  many  of  them  just  arrived ; 
they  are  to  be  issued  to  the  companies  to-morrow,  when 
drilling  them  will  commence ;  I  have  a  good  grey,  that  I 
ride  daily  and  expect  to  purchase.  We  have  been  mustered 
for  pay;  the  men  are  paid  from  the  date  of  their  enlistment; 
I  shall  receive  only  about  one  month's  pay,  as  I  was  mus- 
tered "in  only  on  the  twenty -seventh  December  and  do  not 
get  pay  for  the  time  in  camp  and  on  recruiting  service. 
Several  ships  are  now  due,  and  expected  to  arrive,  with 
stores  and  troops.  The  ship  Undaunted  lost  but  four 
horses  of  her  freight;  they  were  loaded  by  private  parties, 
who  were  to  pay  for  all  lost  on  the  voyage. 

SHIP  ISLAND,  MARCH  11. 

I  received  a  letter  from  you  yesterday.  I  suppose  you 
will  hear  great  stories  of  our  troops  being  defeated  at  Mis- 
sissippi City,  through  the  Southern  papers,  before  you  get 
the  truth  of  the  affair.  Last  Saturday,  Colonel  Jones,  with 

5* 


54  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

officers  and  one  hundred  men,  consisting  of  fifty  men  from 
Company  I,  of  the  Twenty-Sixth  Massachusetts,  and  the 
same  number  from  Company  B,  went  in  the  steamer  Cal- 
houn  to  reconnoitre  about  the  place  (Mississippi  City),  with 
the  view  of  sending  some  regiments  over  there ;  they  found 
the  wharf  or  bridge  badly  broken,  but  crossed,  and  found 
the  houses  near  the  landing  deserted ;  after  going  a  short 
distance  beyond,  they  saw  two  or  three  horsemen  in  the 
woods,  quite  a  distance  from  them;  soon  after,  a  number 
more  appeared,  when  Colonel  Jones  halted  and  turned  in 
the  direction  of  the  wharf;  the  rebels  in  the  woods  then 
opened  fire  with  some  small  field  pieces,  using  canister  shot. 
One  of  our  men  was  slightly  wounded,  the  merest  flesh 
wound;  this  was  the  only  casualty  on  our  side.  We  did  not 
fire  a  shot  until  on  board  ship  again,  when  the  Calhoun  fired 
three  shells  into  the  woods,  with  what  result  we  do  not 
know.  There  are  now  seven  or  eight  thousand  men  on  the 
island,  half  of  them  drilled  and  disciplined.  It  would  be 
easy  to  hold  Mississippi  City,  with  few  men,  if  it  were 
desirable. 

We  hear  reports  of  a  major  coming  out  to  take  command 
of  the  cavalry,  and  of  other  cavalry  companies  coming  to 
join  us.  Quite  a  number  of  the  officers  here  will  undoubt- 
edly be  ordered  home  if  Governor  Andrew  has  the  control 
of  the  commissions.  Captain  Dudley,  of  the  regular  army, 
is  to  command  the  Massachusetts  regiment,  and  it  is  now  to 
be  ranked  as  the  Thirtieth.  General  Butler  is  expected 
to  arrive  soon,  and  we  to  move  shortly  after.  The  Navy 
are  preparing  for  the  attack  on  New  Orleans,  and  are  confi- 
dent of  success. 


LETTERS    AND   DIARY.  55 

It  is  not  dull  here,  ships  are  arriving  every  day ;  six  of 
the  mortar  fleet  have  arrived  to-day;  small  prizes  are  often 
brought  in;  a  large  steamship,  now  in  sight,  may  be  the 
Mississippi.  Some  of  the  large  ships  have  to  lighten  to  get 
over  the  bar.  The  United  States  ships  Colorado,  Mississippi, 
Hartford,  Kichmond,  Pensacola  and  Brooklyn,  with  a 
fleet  of  gunboats,  are  near  here,  and  come  in  and  go  out 
frequently ;  they  are  very  fine  ships.  I  dined  Sunday,  on 
board  the  Richmond,  on  green  turtle  and  roast  chicken, — 
very  different  food  from  our  shore  fare,  which  is  rather  poor. 
We  are  having  fine  weather,  and  I  quite  enjoy  this  mili- 
tary life. 

SHIP  ISLAND,  MARCH  18. 

I  have  received  the  letters  and  papers  you  sent  by 
Adams'  Express,  but  nothing  by  the  Constitution,  which 
arrived  last  week  and  sailed  again  day  before  yesterday. 
She  brought  three  regiments, — one  from  Michigan,  one  from 
Iowa,  and  one  from  Wisconsin;  they  have  been  stationed 
at  Baltimore  and  in  Virginia,  and  are  under  good  drill. 
Brigadier-General  Williams  came  also;  he  was  on  General 
Scott's  Stan0,  and  ranks  high  as  an  officer  of  the  regular 
army.  We  drill  six  hours  daily — two-thirds  of  the  time 
mounted — and  make  good  progress.  There  are  now  on  the 
island,  eleven  regiments  infantry,  several  batteries  artillery, 
and  one  battalion  of  three  companies  cavalry ;  other  regi- 
ments and  batteries  are  expected  daily.  I  never  was  in 
better  health  ;  the  measles  left  me  rather  weak  for  two 
or  three  weeks,  but  I  have  now  completely  regained  my 
strength.  I  have  an  excellent  servant,  a  contraband,  and  as 


56  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

good  a  man  as  I  could  wish;  he  washes  well,  and  takes  good 
care  of  my  horse,  which  I  care  much  more  about.  I  do  noj; 
know  when  this  will  go,  and  leave  it  at  the  express  office  for 
safe  keeping.  General  Phelps  is  still  in  command;  he  has  a 
New  Orleans  paper  which  boasts  of  advantages  gained  over 
our  troops,  which  I  do  not  credit.  We  have  various  stories 
about  our  movements,  and  cannot  tell  what  to  believe; 
General  Butler  is  expected  to  arrive  to-morrow. 

MARCH  24. — A  mail  leaves  immediately,  by  a  gunboat 
just  arrived  from  the  passes,  so  write  just  to  say  that 

W and  myself  are  well,  as  you  seem  to  imagine  us  in  a 

miserable  condition.  We  are  as  comfortable  as  possible; 
no  great  variety  of  food  for  the  table ;  we  have  rice,  nearly 
all  the  time,  with  salt  beef  and  pork,  and  plenty  of  bread 
and  butter. 

General  Butler  has  arrived,  and  the  troops  have  been  put 
into  brigades.  The  battalion  of  cavalry  has  been  divided, 
and  our  company  has  been  placed  with  the  Third  Brigade, 
which  consists  of  the  Massachusetts  Thirtieth,  Maine  Twelfth, 
Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth  Kegiments  Infantry,  and  the 
Maine  First  Battery.  Captain  Magee  commands  our  com- 
pany; we  are  gaining  rapidly  in  drill;  I  enjoy  the  mounted 
exercise  very  much,  and  the  men  have  improved  in  riding. 
Your  letters  of  fifteenth  and  eighteenth  of  last  month  came 
a  few  days  since. 

SHIP  ISLAND,  APRIL  2. 

Lieutenant  Bowles  has  been  appointed  Aid-de-Camp  to 
General  Shepley.  Great  preparations  are  being  made  for 
the  expedition  to  New  Orleans,  and  we  expect  to  move  in  a 


LETTERS    AND    DIART.  57 

few  days,  but  I  think  it  will  not  be  for  a  fortnight.  The 
regular  mail  will  leave  in  a  day  or  two,  and  I  will  try  to 
write;  we  are  quite  busy  drilling,  and  have  but  little  time 
for  letters.  The  Connecticut  Ninth  left  here  yesterday,  in  a 
steamer,  with  two  gunboats  as  convoy;  we  think  they  have 
gone  to  Mississippi  City  and  Pass  Christian.  The  secesh 
fired  on  a  flag  of  truce,  at  Biloxi,  the  day  before  yesterday; 
no  one  hurt.  Have  letters  from  you  of  twenty-eighth  Feb- 
ruary, and  from  A and  L and  T.  Weather  clear 

and  warm. 

13TH  APRIL. — About  half  the  troops  have  marching 
orders  and  will  soon  leave  ;  our  company  does  not  go, 
but  Captain  Read's  and  the  other  company  do.  The  attack 
on  the  forts  will  be  made  this  week.  We  have  many  mortar 
boats,  several  first-class  gunboats,  and  four  or  five  steam 
sloops  of  war.  The  New  London  took  a  schooner,  yester- 
day, with  a  cargo  of  molasses;  she  had  Mobile  papers  on 
board,  of  sixth  April;  these  mention  a  battle  as  then  going 
on,  in  Tennessee  or  Mississippi,  in  which  their  General  John- 
son had  been  killed.  It  is  uncertain  when  we  leave. 

13TH,  P.  M. — I  wrote  you  a  few  lines  this  morning,  by 
the  mail  steamer;  she  came  in  last  night,  and  we  were  not 
knowing  of  it,  and  only  had  time  to  get  short  letters  ready 
and  on  board  with  the  despatches  sent  by  the  General.  The 
night  before  last  we  had  a  fearful  thunder  storm;  I  have 
never  seen  it  lighten  so  steadily  as  it  did  most  of  the  night; 
the  guard  tent  of  the  Thirtieth  Massachusetts  was  struck, 
and  three  men  killed,  and  two  so  badly  wounded  as  to  be 
considered  hopelessly  so,  and  two  wounded  slightly.  I  like 
my  horse  much;  he  stands  fire  finely;  does  not  mind  it  the 


.'S  IMCKBKINO    DODGK   ALLKN. 

least.  We  aw  now  at  target  practice  and  shoot  from  our 
horses  daily;  they  aw  becoming  quite  well  trained  and  gain 
faster  than  I  thought  possible.  The  (Connecticut  Ninth 
went  to  Pass  Christian  and  Mississippi  City ;  at  the  Pass 
they  eaptuwd  a  camp,  equipage,  eU\,  but  the  men  belong- 
ing there,  a  Mississippi  w^hueut  of  ei^ht  hundrtni  men,  tUnl. 
The  Connecticut  regiment  bunuHl  the  cnmp  and  captured  a 
tVw  men.  We  have  New  Orleaius  papers  of  late  date,  and 
learn  by  them  that  the  colonel  of  the  regiment  was  placed 
under  arrest  for  leaving  without  tlghting.  The  Kew  London 
has  captuwd  a  steamer  t\x>m  Mobile  for  Kew  Orloaus,  witl» 
thirty-six  passengers  and  cargo  of  iH>sin  and  t\»rjH^tine. 

We  o.x|HH>t  the  attack  on  the  forts  will  commence  to- 
morrow. We  have  a  powerAil  tlwt  and  well  armed,  and  in 
addition,  Oommodort)  PorterV  mortar  lUvU  The  wln>l8  have 
a  number  of  gunboats,  and  aw  snj>jH>stHl  to  have  about  two 
hundred  heavy  guns  mounted,  besides  those  on  Forts  Jackson 
and  Phillip;  so  they  aw  well  pwpared.  It  must  be  a  gwat 
batth\  if  we  succeed  and  they  detVnd  the  forts  as  we  expect 
they  will  Captain  Head  and  his  and  the  other  cavalry  go 
dismounted;  m>  wiuaiu  hew,  pi\>lmWy  two  or  thitx^  wxnvks 
longer,  Tho<£roopa  aw  healthy  aiul  in  gtnxi  spirits, 

Yesteixiay  I  weeived  the  8alem  Uaaott«\  of  fourteenth 
and  eighteenth  Maix>h.  AVeather  very  One,  Last  week  we 
had  a  wview  of  the  division  by  General  Butier, — About 
tlfleen  tJiousand  men.  It  is  a  long  time,  now,  since  we 
have  weeived  letters  from  home;  the  UtH>rjj\>  Washington, 
with  a  mail,  is  expected  soon. 


I  I  i  I  I 


Hllif   IC.I.ANII,   Anm.   \'.). 

•II,,.  .>;,,"!,  IK.M   ,-,n..l      \  ,  „    I      -.     \»n\\t         W-        .,,,,,.,   <     UK  y 
I,:,-,,     ;»„,.     I,,    II,,    f.,,1:    w.1.1.  UK    .-x,,.-.-li.li.,i,   ',1    /' ;. ..  .-  ,i,  u,;; 

I),,   m  ;,:,  II,,.     I1«I  VOM     Ml'   ,     II.     yoill     IHI<T    I.O 

the  overflow  in  onr  camp;  it  won  n«w*  to  me;  A  high  tide 

I,  ,   ,     M,    ,'l..l    ;-      ..,..11    j,l  I   n   /<-w    U-nU,   hut 

>f  cwiNwjuftmw. 

2r,.       W"   JIM:   i-,1/11    I,'.'     iiixl     I'-.    Ml    I   •:..-   "  ,1.1'ly 
I-.OMM-    I.IIIM-;     w«-.  .-I.H-.  in   M  ."In,'        I"  ..,"  /<     ;.l    iiny 

received  new*,  yerterday,  from  the  Pa* 

,K«I    I:,    I    'I  |. in    <|,.y    ,,I  r,u,     '!,,),  .,    ;,,<• 

M'  i o  Monday  evening,    I  have  convert!  wild  UK«,  captain 

.,1    UK:    ,«      ...  !     Imn;');,;'     UK      h.li.,;-,     UK      i, ,',,!;.,      !,.,;,(.-.     ;,,, 
u/'l,',."!    v/y    IK,, .     UK      i-liOMv    ;ihoiil.    I.WO   inil«  ••    I)', in    I  -,.  I 

);>' )    >/>;  they  are  near  the  wo«,«i«,  »ridf  being  covered 
boughe  and  leavee  of  treee^  can  hardly  be  aeen  froni  the 

!,,,),     ;,„'!     UK  "      '-I     U.'  ii     |.'.i-.il.i«,ii       liorn 

UK    IMIII^.    One  "i   UK  m   i.-i.i   been    unk;  a  hull  PUMMW! 

<ln"  tly    ll/i'Kj;'!,    IK  i        T!K    foil,  I.;K!    I,"  n  I  /,  i"    on    In .  ,  .,n<\ 
;,i,     <  xj, I', :•)',;,      |I;K!      l;,l"i,      j,|:i'«-          All      UK-      /"M,        l,«il.     l.w, 

i  ;j  I'  <  i/    t/'/Ui    1 '<;  I  •    l<(  I ' ;.  <     III  i  ••.  ',';,,!    In'     /  ;,  1 1  ••   I,  ;<  Y<:    \  ><  <  n 

:•.<•.!, I.    <lov/n    UK-    livi-r,   hul.    y/iU/oul    don,;'    UK     I';.. -I    «|;II/»;I;M- 
Th'-M-    t-    ;i    |;n/'«-    'I, .in,    M'/    -in"    I!/'      MV<)     IK  ;n     UK-    joi  h- 


-»•.•/«•!  ill      :-.UJ.|,'/.-."J 


60  PICKERING   BODGE   ALLEN. 

I  am  yet  without  a  commission ;  do  not  see  what  difference 
it  will  make,  but  should  rather  have  one  from  Massachusetts. 
My  servant  is  good,  could  not  have  brought  from  the  North 
a  better.  I  do  not  think  this  war  will  be  closed  very 
soon.  "We  are  well;  go  to  bed  early,  and  rise  at  five  in 
the  morning. 

MAY  4. — I  have  received  many  letters,  they  were  very 
old  dates,  some  early  in  March.  This  island  is  long  and 
sandy,  not  a  single  tree  for  six  miles.  Four  regiments  and 
parts  of  two  others  leave  here  to-day  and  to-morrow  for 
New  Orleans  and  Fort  Pike;  we  have  to  remain  here  still 
longer.  I  am  now  living  in  a  small  wooden  house  some  of 
our  men  built  out  of  old  boards;  it  has  a  brick  floor,  and  is 
very  comfortable  in  pleasant  weather,  but  not  so  good  when 
it  rains;  it  took  three  men  half  a  day  to  build  it,  so  you  can 
imagine  how  it  looks,  with  three  large  windows  and  a  door, 
but  no  glass  in  the  windows.  The  Navy  have  taken  New 
Orleans  and  gone  up  river. 

SHIP  ISLAND,  MAY  5. 

Of  the  surrender  of  New  Orleans  you  will  have  heard  be- 
fore receiving  this.  The  naval  officers  and  men  have  done 
splendidly.  The  Twenty-Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  is 
garrisoning  the  forts  and  the  other  troops  occupy  the  city. 
Part  of  the  fleet  has  gone  up  the  river.  The  steamer  Ten- 
nessee arrived  here  last  Friday,  in  command  of  an  officer 
of  the  Richmond;  he  gave  me  a  very  interesting  account  of 
the  naval  operations. 

We  are  very  tired  of  staying  here  and  hope  to  be  ordered 
somewhere  soon.  The  Maine  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth  and 


LETTERS    AND    DIARY.  61 

Fifteenth,  the  Vermont  Seventh,  and  part  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Eighth,  a  battery,  and  our  cavalry  company, 
make  up  the  list  of  troops  remaining  here  now.  I  think  we 
shall  have  to  remain  in  this  region  some  considerable  time 
yet,  until  next  spring,  if  not  longer,  notwithstanding  our 
success  in  ]STew  Orleans.  I  want  to  hear  from  Virginia  very 
much,  and  what  progress  McClellan  is  making  there.  We 
have  a  newspaper  printed  here;  I  send  you  a  copy  contain- 
ing the  "glorious  news"  of  the  capture  of  the  forts,  and  that 
New  Orleans  is  in  our  possession;  it  will  no  doubt  be  short 
lired. 

MAY  6. — The  mortar  fleet  has  returned,  and  I  believe  a 
number  of  steamers  are  also  coming,  so  hope  that  a  move 
is  in  prospect  for  us. 

MAY  10. — The  mail  steamer  has  just  come  in,  and  will 
leave  in  a  few  hours.  I  sent  several  letters  by  the  Eliza  and 
Ella,  a  sailing  ship,  three  or  four  days  since;  she  put  back 
yesterday  afternoon  in  a  sinking  condition.  We  expect  to 
go  to  New  Orleans  as  soon  as  transports  arrive ;  have 
not  received  our  orders. 

Captain  Magee  and  forty  men  have  been  in  Biloxi 
the  last  two  days;  they  returned  last  evening;  they  found 
very  few  people  over  there,  and  those  they  did  meet  were 
most  of  them  aged.  I  send  you  a  few  New  Orleans  papers, 
as  specimens  of  the  effect  of  secession  upon  them.  This 
steamer  will  carry  three  days  later  news,  as  she  is  direct 
from  there.  We  are  anxious  for  the  Northern  mail,  soon 
due,  for  the  news,  as  the  rebels  in  New  Orleans  have  had 
placards  up  announcing  the  defeat  of  McClellan's  army  and 
the  occupation  of  Arlington  Heights  by  their  forces.  We 


62          PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN. 

do  not  credit  these  stories,  and  suppose  they  circulate  them 
to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  people. 

MAY  19. — Received  marching  orders,  and  expect  to  go 
on  board  the  ship  Ocean  Pearl.  Sent  thirty  men  on  board 
to  put  up  stalls  for  the  horses. 

MAY  20. — Received  orders  to  embark  on  board  the 
steamer  Sallie  Robinson,  a  prize,  which  arrived  here 
yesterday.  Have  our  horses  and  everything  on  board 
before  dark. 

21ST  MAY. — We  sail  this  morning  for  New  Orleans,  by 
way  of  Lake  Ponchartrain.  Arrive  at  the  Orleans  Cotton 
Press  at  midnight,  and  find  it  no  easy  thing  to  obtain  food 
for  men  or  horses;  finally  procure  some  hay  and  oats. 

,  NEW  ORLEANS,  MAY  29. 

We  arrived  here  the  same  night  that  we  left  Ship  Island, 
our  men  and  horses  in  perfect  order.  We  marched  from 
Lake  £onchartrain,  and  have  fine  quarters  well  up  town, 
two  or  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Custom  House;  we 
have  a  large  hall  for  the  men  and  a  fine  stable  for  the  horses, 
and  are  in  what  is  considered  a  healthy  part  of  the  city, 
which  is  very  quiet  and  appears  to  be  well  governed.  The 
Union  feeling  is  quite  strong,  particularly  among  the  for- 
eigners and  the  poorer  people.  I  found  my  friends  in  the 
other  company  well.  The  weather  is  fine,  though  hot;  we 
feel  the  heat  less  here  than  on  Ship  Island.  We  are  recruit- 
ing here,  and  shall  fill  the  company  with  excellent  men  in  a 
short  time;  quite  a  number  have  enlisted  in  the  different 
regiments  since  our  troops  arrived  here;  a  majority  of  them 


LETTERS    AND   DIARY.  63 

are  foreigners.  We  have  rumors  of  disasters  to  our  forces 
at  the  North,  which  I  hope  are  not  true. 

The  Constitution  and  another  large  steamer  arrived  yes- 
terday. Commissions  came  for  most  of  the  officers  of  the 

Massachusetts  troops,  but  none  for  P and  myself;  a 

second  lieutenant  came  to  take  the  place  of  the  second 
lieutenant  of  the  third  company.  I  felt  sure  of  being  com- 
missioned, as  Colonel  Dudley  recommended  me  and  so  did 
Captain  Magee,  and  I  cannot  understand  the  proceeding. 
The  Captain  has  not  yet  received  his  papers  from  the  Gov- 
ernment; they  probably  will  throw  some  light  upon  the 
subject.  If  I  am  not  to  be  commissioned,  I  shall  come 
home,  which  I  should  be  sorry  to  do  at  present,  as  the 
company  is  well  disciplined  and  drilled,  and  I  should  dislike 
very  much  to  leave  it.  I  can  think  of  no  other  reason  for 
the  Governor's  action  in  refusing  me  a  commission  than  that 
I  did  not  accept  the  one  given  me  in  the  Twentieth  Regi- 
ment. Colonel  Dudley  is  now  assistant  military  commander 
of  the  city. 

MAY  29.— Not  well. 

MAY  30.— I  have  typhoid  fever;  send  for  Dr.  Blake  as 
physician. 

JUNE  3. — Have  Dr.  Hyde,  a  city  physician. 

JUNE  7. — Have  Dr.  Black. 

Letters  written  at  Pickering's  suggestion,  during 
his  illness,  were  received  by  us  until  he  had  so  far 
recovered  as  to  write  himself. 


64  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN, 


ORLEANS,  JUNE  16. 

I  am  now  much  better,  and  am  up  and  dressed.  The 
company  left  here  the  day  before  yesterday  for  Baton 
Rouge ;  I  do  not  think  they  will  have  any  fighting  in  this 
vicinity.  I  expect  to  be  removed  down  town  to  the  Park 
Hotel  to-day,  and  shall  come  home  as  soon  as  I  get  strong 
enough.  I  am  dreadfully  thin,  but  gaining  rapidly;  was  in 

bed  seventeen  days,  and  for  a  week  very  ill.  W went 

off  in  fine  spirits.  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  accept  any 
other  position  after  having  received  such  treatment  from 
Governor  Andrew. 

JUNE  18. — Mustered  out  of  service  by  Captain  Kinsel, 
Chief  of  Artillery,  of  General  Butler's  Staif,  in  consequence 
of  a  commission  from  Governor  Andrew  being  sent  out  to 
Private  Morton,  as  second  lieutenant,  to  fill  my  position  in 
the  second  company  of  cavalry.  I  now  expect  to  sail  for 
home  to-morrow  in  the  ship  Parliament,  a  sailing  vessel; 
she  is  not  fast,  but  is  large  and  comfortable.  The  steamers 
now  going  to  New  York  are  small  and  crowded,  and  they 
charge  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  passage ;  I  am  not  strong 
enough  to  stand  a  crowded  steamer,  and  am  so  thin  you 
would  hardly  know  me.  I  had  quite  a  conversation  with 
General  Butler  this  morning;  he  urged  my  staying  here  and 
offered  me  a  position  ;  I  of  course  declined,  as  it  was  neces- 
sary for  me  to  first  recover  my  health.  The  Captain  of  the 
Parliament  is  an  old  acquaintance,  I  having  dined  with  him 
several  times  at  Ship  Island;  and  it  was  only  just  now  that 
I  heard  she  was  here;  I  had  thought  she  had  sailed  long 


HOME   FROM   NEW    ORLEANS.  65 

ago;   she  probably  goes  to  Boston,  and   should    be  there 
about  the  tenth  of  July. 

JUNE  19. — Went  on  board  ship  to  sail  for  home.  Sent  a 
remembrance  to  Dr.  Hyde  for  medical  attendance. 

ON  BOARD  SHIP  PARLIAMENT,  JUNE  20. 

Towed  by  steamer  down  the  river;  had  to  anchor  for  the 
night  inside  the  bar. 

JUNE  21. — Towed  over  the  bar  at  8,  A.  M.;  no  wind,  and 
we  drift  to  the  westward. 

JUNE  28. — We  have  had  very  light  winds  all  the  week, 
and  are  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  Tortugas. 

JUNE  29. — Very  hot  and  calm. 

JUNE  30. — Get  aground  on  a  bank  near  the  coast  of  Flor- 
ida; we  get  afloat  without  damage  to  the  ship. 

JULY  1. — In  sight  of  Tortugas  all  day,  with  the  wind  off 
the  land. 

JULY  3. — Tortugas  light  house  still  in  sight;  we  are  at 
last  fairly  round  it,  with  a  head  wind  and  rough  sea. 

The  passage  to  Boston  after  this  date  was  pleasant, 
with  the  customary  changes  of  calm  and  rain  and  fine 
weather.  Pickering  arrived  home  the  sixteenth  July, 
with  his  health  much  improved  by  the  sea  voyage. 

On  his  return  home,  he  heard  that  a  commission  as 
second  lieutenant  of  the  first  company  of  cavalry  had 
been  sent  him  to  New  Orleans,  a  vacancy  having 
been  made  in  that  company  by  promotion.  This 

6* 


66  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

commission  he  had  passed  at  sea,  and  his  health  being 
such  as  to  make  it  doubtful  how  soon  he  could  return 
to  duty  at  the  South  should  he  accept,  after  a  short 
stay  with  his  family  in  Salem,  he  went  to  the  hilly 
region  of  Vermont,  by  invitation  of  friends  there,  to 
regain  his  strength  in  the  pure  and  invigorating  moun- 
tain air.  The  commission  arrived  safely  at  company 
head  quarters  at  the  South.  It  was  returned  to  him  at 
Salem,  with  urgent  wishes  of  the  commander  that  he 
would  accept ;  when  received  here  it  was  forwarded 
to  Yermont,  and  received  by  him  at  a  time  of  great 
excitement  in  the  month  of  August,  when  orders  for 
more  troops  had  just  been  issued.  He  soon  returned 
to  Salem,  and,  upon  consultation  with  military  friends 
at  Boston,  accepted  the  commission,  and  was  mus- 
tered into  the  United  States  service  the  second  time 
on  the  eighteenth  day  of  August,  1862,  as  second 
lieutenant  of  Captain  Read's  company  of  Massachu- 
setts unattached  cavalry,  and  immediately  prepared 
to  embark  again  to  join  his  company. 

He  left  Salem  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  August,  for 
New  York,  to  sail  from  there  as  soon  as  possible.  On 
the  twenty-ninth,  he  writes : — 

I  have  secured  my  passage  by  the  steamer  Roanoke,  to 
sail  at  noon,  tomorow;  she  is  considered  a  fine  ship,  is  of 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  67 

eleven  hundred  tons,  with  side  wheels,  and  is  fast.  There 
is  no  Government  ship  to  sail  at  an  early  day  for  New 
Orleans,  and  I  was  told  it  might  be  one  or  two  weeks,  and 
possibly  longer,  before  one  would  go,  and  that  it  depended 
upon  regulations  made  by  the  department  at  Washington. 
I  saw  the  Seventh  New  York  Regiment  when  they  arrived 
from  their  second  term  of  three  months  service;  of  course 
they  appeared  well.  Two  steamers  sail  from  here  next 
Wednesday  for  New  Orleans,  and  I  shall  hope  to  hear  from 
you  by  them. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  IOTH  SEPTEMBER,'  1862. 

I  arrived  yesterday,  and  found  that  Captain  Magee  had 
gone  North,  very  ill;  that  Lieutenants  Batchelder  and  Mor- 
ton were  at  the  hospital,  with  typhoid  fever.  The  city  in 
general  is  healthy.  I  will  write  on  Saturday;  have  been 
extremely  busy  all  day. 

CAMP  WILLIAMS,  SEPTEMBER  12. 

I  am  now  with  the  company.  We  are  attached  •  to  a 
brigade  under  Colonel  Dudley,  acting  as  brigadier  general ; 
it  consists  of  the  Sixth  Michigan,  Thirtieth  Massachusetts, 
Seventh  Vermont,  First  Louisiana,  Fourth  and  Sixth  Massa- 
chusetts Batteries,  and  the  Maine  First  Battery  and  our 
cavalry.  The  Louisiana  regiment  has  about  nine  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  and  appears  well.  The  Second  is  nearly  full, 
and  is  commanded  by  Colonel  Paine,  who  was  major  in  the 
Thirtieth  Massachusetts  when  under  Colonel  French.  We 
have  a  pleasant  camp,  and  the  company  is  in  good  condition. 
I  saw  W yesterday;  he  is  thin,  is  improving,  and  will 


68  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN.      . 

soon  be  as  well  as  ever.  Lieutenant  B had  him  taken 

to  the  Hospital  Hotel  Dieu,  where  he  was  well  cared  for;  he 
will  be  able  to  join  the  company  in  a  few  days;  his  fever, 
like  Lieutenant  Batchelder's,  was  caused  by  exposure  and 
hard  work  at  Baton  Rouge. 

Think  of  Lieutenant  Batchelder's  death.  When  I  landed, 
I  was  told  that  Captain  Magee  had  gone  home,  and  that 
Lieutenants  Batchelder  and  Morton  were  at  St.  James' 
Hospital,  both  with  typhoid  fever.  I  went  to  the  hospital 
immediately;  Batchelder  appeared  glad  to  see  me,  but  he 
was  wandering,  and  I  do  not  think  he  knew  me.  He  died 
the  next  morning. 

The  passage  out  was  good, — eight  days  and  some .  hours. 
We  had  pleasant  passengers  in  the  Roanoke:  Major  Strong, 
Chief  of  General  Butler's  Staff,  Colonel  Weiss  and  two 
lieutenants,  Mr.  Dexter  of  Boston,  and  many  others.  I  do 
not  think  the  rebel  troops  are  very  near,  although  we  hear 
rumors  of  them  often.  About  two  thousand  cattle  were 
captured  near  here  last  week,  and  a  body  of  Texan  mounted 
men  were  attacked  and  defeated,  thirty  miles  north,  a  few 
days  since;  we  captured  nearly  two  hundred  horses  and 
quite  a  number  of  men  without  loss  to  our  troops. 

Lieutenant  Weitzel,  Chief  of  Engineers  on  General  But- 
ler's Staff,  has  just  been  commissioned  Brigadier  General, 
and  I  hear  is  to  act  Major  General,  so  will  be  next  in  com- 
mand. He  is  a  very  able  man,  was  one  of  the  first  in  his 
class  at  West  Point,  and  is  now  very  young,  only  twenty-six 
or  seven.  I  want  very  much  to  be  on  his  staff  and  think  I 
may,  as  it  is  known  that  he  has  thought  of  me.  I  should 
prefer  this  to  any  other  position;  many  officers  are  wanting 


LETTERS   FROM   LOUISIANA.  69 

the  place,  as  he  is  of  the  regular  army  and  very  popular. 
I  am  glad  that  I  returned  here,  as  this  division  is  still  my 
choice;  we  are  enjoying  hot,  fine  weather;  this  place  is  about 
six  miles  from  New  Orleans. 


CAMP  WILLIAMS,  18TH  SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

Since  my  last  letter,  I  have  received  yours,  one  from 

T ,  and  the  Salem  papers.    Did  you  hear  G W 

speak?  I  am  glad  he  is  doing  well,  recruiting  for  his  com- 
pany, and  have  no  doubt  of  his  success.  You  do  not  men- 
tion C ;  is  he  going  with  him?  It  has  rained  hard 

here  the  last  two  days,  which  makes  it  rather  disagree- 
able in  camp.  The  Northern  news  seems  to  be  about  as 
bad  as  possible.  General  Weitzel's  Staff  has  not  yet  been 
announced;  it  will  be  when  he  receives  his  papers;  my 
chance  is  good,  Major  Strong  gives  me  his  influence.  I 
have  been  on  quite  an  expedition ;  Major  Strong  started 
from  the  city  with  several  companies,  one  from  Connecticut, 
three  from  Twelfth  Maine,  and  one  from  the  Twenty  Sixth 
Massachusetts;  Lieutenant  Morton  of  General  Butler's  Staff, 
Lieutenant  Finegross  and  myself  went  with  him,  as  aids; 
we  took  steamers  at  Lakeport  and  went  to  the  other  side  of 
Lake  Ponchartrain,  to  the  Tarigiparioa  river,  but  could  not 
get  far  enough  up  to  accomplish  anything.  We  remained 
Sunday  at  Fort  Pike,  went  that  night  to  the  river  near  Pass 
Manchae,  at  daylight  went  up  with  one  boat  and  four 
companies  to  Manchae  Railroad  bridge.  The  Connecti- 
cut company  were  on  the  New  London,  and  could  not  get 
over  the  bar.  We  wanted  to  get  to  Ponchatoula,  Jeff 


70  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

Thompson's  head  quarters,  where  we  heard  there  were  but 
two  companies  of  militia.  One  of  the  Maine  companies  was 
sent  in  the  -opposite  direction  to  burn  a  railroad  bridge  and 
the  Massachusetts  company  left  on  board  the  boat.  We  had 
one  gun  with  us,  but  could  not  land  it,  as  we  had  to  march 
nearly  two  miles  on  a  bridge,  stepping  from  sleeper  to 
sleeper.  Our  two  companies  were  C  and  F  of  the  Twelfth 
Maine,  and  numbered  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men.  There  was  a  locomotive  on  the  track  about  half  way 
to  the  town,  which  of  course  gave  them  information  of 
our  coming. 

On  our  arrival  near  the  village,  they  commenced  firing 
with  two  or  three  pieces  of  artillery,  and  we  ascertained 
from  letters  and  from  the  negroes  that  they  had  three 
companies  of  the  Tenth  Arkansas  Kegiment  and  a  company 
of  artillery,  besides  the  two  small  militia  companies.  After 
a  fight  of  about  twenty  minutes  we  took  the  town,  burned  a 
freight  train  of  twenty  or  more  cars,  seized  everything  in 
the  fort  and  telegraph  offices.  I  took  the  telegraph  des- 
patches, of  which  there  were  several  hundred;  I  enclose  one 
from  Jeif  Thompson,  just  received  and  not  delivered,  who, 
it  seems,  had  gone  to  Jackson  the  day  before.  We  took  his 
head  quarters,  and  his  sword  with  the  inscription  "  Presented 
to  Gen'l  M.  Jeff  Thompson  by  the  Patriots  of  Memphis." 
Part  of  our  wounded  were  sent  into  a  house,  with  a  surgeon; 
the  negroes  now  told  us  that  the  rebels  were  moving  in  an 
effort  to  cut  off  our  retreat,  so  we  moved  down  the  railroad 
a  short  distance  to  await  their  attack  (after  we  took  the  vil- 
lage they  disappeared  altogether),  but  instead  of  appearing 
there,  they  returned  to  the  village  again  and  seized  our 


LETTERS   FROM   LOUISIANA.  71 

wounded.  They  came  back  by  some  road  not  known  to  us; 
they  outnumbered  us  much,  at  least  three  to  one,  and  with 
several  pieces  of  artillery;  at  this  moment,  a  train  of  cars 
arrived,  bringing  them  more  men  and  guns, — probably  they 
were  from  Camp  Moore,  thirteen  miles  above  the  town; 
they  then  commenced  a  fire  of  shell  and  round  shot  from 
several  pieces,  they  fired  badly  and  we  had  but  one  man 
wounded. 

We  had  torn  up  the  track,  so  that  they  could  not  follow 
us  with  guns  on  the  railroad.  We  lost  three  or  four 
killed,  and  about  twenty  wounded,  of  our  small  number; 
Captain  Thornton  of  Connecticut,  wounded,  was  taken  pris- 
oner when  they  returned  to  the  village;  his  second  lieutenant 
was  wounded  in  the  foot,  but  was  not  taken.  When  a  mile 
from  the  town  we  were  joined  by  the  Massachusetts  com- 
pany, which  had  been  sent  for,  and  when  five  miles  further 
on,  by  the  other  Maine  company.  The  rebels  followed  a  few 
miles,  but  did  not  come  near  enough  for  the  shot  to  reach  us 
after  they  left  the  town;  we  kept  moving  slowly  and  then 
stopping  for  them,  but  they  stopped  whenever  we  did.  In 
the  skirmish  the  Maine  companies  behaved  admirably;  not 
a  man  faltered,  and  we  had  no  idea  of  contending  with 
artillery.  We  had  a  march  of  twenty  miles  on  the  day  of 
the  fight,  ten  from  the  bridge  to  the  town,  and  the  weather 
was  very  hot. 

There  is  no  news  here  of  importance;  we  expect  to  be 
very  quiet  for  some  time  unless  we  are  attacked,  which  does 
not  seem  probable,  as  it  would  require  a  large  force  to  have 
any  chance  of  success.  The  defences  of  the  city  are  being 
daily  strengthened. 


72  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 


CAMP  WILLIAMS,  SEPTEMBER  24. 

Your  letters  of  the  ninth  were  received  yesterday.  The 
weather  here  now  is  changeable  from  cool  to  very  hot, 
and  the  reverse.  Our  New  York  dates  are  to  the  eleventh 
instant.  Are  you  getting  ready  to  defend  Salem?  The 
Salem  Gazette  and  the  Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette 
always  interest  me;  please  continue  to  send  them  regularly. 
The  Army  news  is  discouraging  from  the  North,  but  we 
must  eventually  have  the  advantage. 

This  State  appears  to  be  full  of  rebel  troops,  probably 
militia  in  the  main.  I  think  Breckinridge,  Yan  Dorn  and  Jeff 
Thompson  are  still  in  this  vicinity,  and  probably  General 
Ruggles.  I  trust  this  winter  will  finish  the  war;  it  is  very 
dull  and  stupid  here  with  nothing  doing;  I  think  I  should 
prefer  farming  to  this,  although  I  am  better  contented  than 
a  majority.  General  Sherman  now  commands  at  Carrollton, 
and  Generals  Arnold  and  Weitzel  of  the  regular  army  here, 
or  are  to  have  commands  here.  I  do  not  think  we  shall  be 
attacked,  and  feel  confident  the  rebels  will  be  badly  whipped 
if  they  make  the  assault. 

Dr.  Black  is  here  as  surgeon  of  the  First  Louisiana  Regi- 
ment, and  I  frequently  see  him.  There  is  no  yellow  fever 
here,  and  but  little  typhoid ;  chills  are  very  prevalent,  and 

this  is  the  worst  month  for  them.    I  saw  "W ,  Sunday;  he 

is  improving.  Five  men  arrived  two  days  since  from  our 
Ponchatoula  affair;  they  became  exhausted  on  the  march 
to  the  boat  and  could  not  get  to  her  in  time,  and  managed  to 
arrive  here  by  land  after  four  days  travel ;  this  reduces  our 


LETTERS    FROM   LOUISIANA.  73 

loss  to  less  than  thirty.     This  place  is  preferable  to  Ship 

Island;  two  Maine  companies  are  yet  there.    Tell  M 

and  L to  write  me.    If  you  see  "W ask  him  to  write 

and  tell  me  all  about  his  company. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  29TH  SEPTEMBER. 

I  have  just  heard  that  a  mail  will  leave  to-morrow,  earty, 
und  have  only  time  to  write  a  few  lines  at  the  Post  Office  to 
say  that  I  have  been  appointed  First  Lieutenant  and  Aid- 
de-Camp  on  General  Weitzel's  Staff,  and  that  I  am  now  on 
duty  in  my  new  position.  J.  B.  Hubbard,  of  the  First 
Maine  Battery,  is  Adjutant  General  and  Chief  of  Staff,  with 
rank  of  captain;  my  position  is  next;  and  Lieutenant  E.  E. 
Graves,  of  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut  Kegiment,  is  Junior 
Aid.  The  brigade  is  composed  of  the  First  Louisiana, 
Twelfth  and  Thirteenth  Connecticut,  Seventh  Vermont  and 
Seventy-Fifth  New  York  regiments,  two  batteries  and  four 
companies  of  cavalry.  We  go  into  camp  a  few  miles  from 
town  this  week;  the  men  are  healthy,  excepting  the  fever 

and  ague  cases.    "W has  joined  his  company  and  is  on 

duty  again;  he  has  grown  stout.    I  am  well  as  possible,  and 
very  much  pleased  at  my  appointment  on  the  staff. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  OCTOBER  1. 

Yesterday  I  received  your  letters  of  September  12;  the 
day  before,  one  of  the  fifteenth ;  the  papers  arrive  regularly ; 

G W 's  letter  has  not  arrived.    The  mail  which  was 

to  have  gone  early  yesterday  morning  has  been  detained 
7 


74  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

until  this  afternoon ;  so  you  will  probably  receive  two  letters 
at  the  same  time. 

Speculators  have  not  been  making  any  money  by  their 
operations  recently.  They  have  paid  high  rates  of  freight; 
$60  per  ton  for  hay,  and  in  this  ratio  for  other  goods  by 
steamer.  Flour  sells  for  $5  to  $8  per  barrel ;  sugar  9  to  10 
cents  per  pound;  corn  70  cents  per  bushel,  and  oats  65  to  75 
cents;  hay  $42  per  ton.  They  must  store  their  goods,  and 
they  will  have  to  wait  awhile  before  selling,  with  a  good 
prospect  of  a  heavy  loss. 

The  weather  this  week  is  very  fine;  a  great  change  from 
that  of  last;  we  go  to  camp  to-morrow.  I  hear  that  Captain 
Batchelder  was  killed  in  battle  at  the  North ;  his  parents  will 
have  heard  of  the  death  of  both  their  sons  at  the  same  time. 

You  seem  to  be  much  troubled  about  W ;  he  is  all  right 

again,  was  very  ill,  and  would  have  had  a  hard  time  had  not 
Lieutenant  Bowles  paid  him  special  attention  and  procured 
for  him  superior  care.  I  will  send  you,  by  my  next  letter, 
the  rebel  account  of  our  skirmish  at  Ponchatoula ;  it  is 
decidedly  amusing.  Our  dates  from  the  North  are  to  the 
twenty-first;  we  are  delighted  with  the  news. 

CAMP  KEARNEY,  OCTOBER  6. 

We  are  now  in  camp  at  Carrollton,  about  a  mile  from  the 
village,  and  six  from  New  Orleans;  the  locality  is  much 
preferable  to  Camp  Williams.  The  accounts  in  the  Northern 
papers  regarding  us  here  are  amusing.  They  state  that  we 
are  in  daily  expectation  of  an  attack  from  the  rebels.  From 
our  information,  they  have  no  force  in  this  vicinity  nearly 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  75 

equal  to  ours,  and  there  is  no  probability  of  their  attempting 
any  such  operation  at  present. 

We  are  having  continued  fine  weather;  a  great  change, 
from  that  of  ten  days  since.  I  like  my  new  position  very 
much,  even  better  than  I  expected.  General  Weitzel  gradu- 
ated the  second  in  his  class,  and  is  at  present  the  youngest 
brigadier  general  in  the  army;  he  is  very  tall,  over  six  feet. 
Captain  Hubbard  is  full  six  feet,  and  rather  taller  than 
myself.  Three  papers  were  received  this  morning,  and  I 

am  glad  to  see  that  C S has  a  commission.      The 

Seventy-Fifth  New  York  Regiment,  in  this  brigade,  is  one 
of  the  best  in  drill  and  discipline,  really  excellent.  We  have 
fine  quarters,  overlooking  the  camp. 

CAMP  KEARNEY,  OCTOBER  10. 

I  write  a  few  lines  to  say  that  we  are  well,  and  have 
received  a  number  of  letters;  did  not  know  of  this  mail  in 
time  to  say  much.  The  Roanoke  is  below  New  Orleans,  in 
quarantine. 

OCTOBER  16. — The  Roanoke  was  detained  at  quarantine 
a  week,  as  she  landed  passengers  at  Havana,  My  last  dates 
from  you  are  of  the  twenty-sixth  ultimo.  The  Eighth  New 
Hampshire  Regiment  is  now  in  our  brigade,  instead  of  the 
Seventh  Yermont.  The  Seventy-Fifth  New  York  Regiment 
drill  and  look  like  regulars,  and  it  is  the  best  volunteer 
regiment  I  have  sesn.  The  colonel  is  a  West  Point  officer. 
The  weather  now  is  quite  cool  and  fine.  My  best  horse  is  a 
large  bay,  and  a  very  fine  one ;  my  second  belongs  to  the 
cavalry  company,  and  is  a  very  good  one. 


76  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 


ORLEANS,  OCTOBER  22. 

Captains  Magee  and  Cowan  arrived  yesterday.    "We  are 

to  start  on  an  expedition  to-morrow,  and  you  may  not  hear 

*  from  me  again  for  five  or  six  weeks..  We  probably  shall 

have  chances  to  write,  but  of  this  I  am  not  certain.    I  saw 

W this  morning,   and  gave  him  some    Salem  papers. 

Have  received  recently  a  number  of  letters;  also  the  photo- 
graph and  caps,  by  Captain  Magee.  Please  thank  for  them. 

-  • 

THIBODEAUX,  LA.,  OCTOBER  28. 

We  arrived  here  yesterday.  Had  quite  a  fight  the  day 
before,  in  which  we  were  successful,  having  taken  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  prisoners,  including  ten  officers,  and  one  brass 
gun,  a  twelve-pounder.  Our  loss  was  sixty  or  seventy  in 
killed  and  wounded.  We  have  marched  all  day  the  last 
week,  and  start  again  to-morrow.  The  prisoners  we  took 
were  among  the  first  raised  troops  in  the  rebel  service, 
belonging  to  some  of  their  best  regiments,  and  had  distin- 
guished themselves  at  Shiloh.  They  were  strongly  posted, 
but  we  outnumbered  them.  I  am  well;  have  no  time  for 
anything  more  now. 

NOVEMBER  10. — We  have  not  had  any  mail  for  some 
time;  but  a  few  days  since,  lots  of  papers  and  several  letters 

came  altogether.  T writes  me  that  G W will 

be  major  of  the  regiment  to  which  his  company  belongs. 
His  letter,  If  he  ever  has  sent  one,  has  not  been  received, 
I  was  in  the  city  last  Monday,  and  saw  W ,  he  was 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  77 

looking  well.     Give  my  love  to  M and  L ,  and  tell 

them  that  if  we  remain  here  a  few  days  I  will  write  them. 
Railway  communication  is  now  open  with  the  city,  and 
nearly  so  to  Brashear  City  on  Berwick's  Bay,  in  the  opposite 
direction.  We  have  now  undisputed  possession  of  the  dis- 
trict of  La  Fouche,  which  is  considered  the  finest  part  of 
Louisiana.  The  rebels  are  now  on  the  other  side  of  the 
bay,  near  Franklin.  A  majority  of  their  men  are  conscripts, 
who  will  not  fight,  as  they  have  not  been  in  the  service 
long  enough  to  be  well  drilled  or  disciplined,  and  are  very 
much  dissatisfied.  Their  picket  deserted  last  night  and 
came  over  to  us. 

We  have  taken,  since  landing  at  Donaldsonville,  five  or 
six  hundred  prisoners,  two-thirds  of  them  belonging  to  the 
militia,  which  has  since  been  disbanded.  You  will  probably 
see  the  General's  report  of  the  affair  at  Georgia  Landing, 
near  Labadieville.  The  enemy  had  the  Eighteenth  Louisiana 
and  Crescent  City  regiments,  Roylston  Battery  of  four 
pieces,  and  a  company  or  two  of  cavalry,  on  one  side  of  the 
bayou.  Both  of  these  regiments  distinguished  themselves 
at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  but  were  small,  both  not  numbering 
more  than  six  hundred  men.  The  Crescent  is  the  best 
Louisiana  regiment  in  the  field.  Their  batteries  were  wel) 
served.  On  the  other  side  the  bayou  they  had  Colonel 
Vincent's  Louisiana  Cavalry,  Semmes'  Battery,  (the  one 
that  injured  us  so  much  at  Baton  Rouge)  the  Thirty-Third 
Louisiana  Infantry,  and  a  few  militia.  The  fighting  was 
nearly  all  on  the  side  where  the  Crescent  and  Eighteenth 
were  posted.  They  had  a  very  strong  position  in  the  woods, 
with  a  large  ditch  in  front  of  their  line.  We  drove  them 


78  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

from  this  position,  capturing  one  of  their  brass  field-pieces, 
and  nearly  two  hundred  prisoners;  rather  more  than  one 
hundred  of  them  belonging  to  the  Crescent  Regiment. 
Among  the  prisoners  we  had  Captain  Roylston  and  one 
of  the  lieutenants  of  the  battery,  and  eight  or  ten  other 
officers  of  the  Crescent  and  Eighteenth  Lousiana.  We 
buried  Colonel  McPhutus  of  the  Crescent,  and  five  or  six  of 
their  men.  These  were  all  the  killed  we  found ;  they  may 
have  taken  away  others.  Some  of  their  badly  wounded 
have  since  died.  We  lost  eighteen  killed,  and  nearly  eighty 
wounded.  Two  New  Hampshire  captains  were  among  the 
killed. 

On  the  other  side  the  bayou  the  fight  did  not  amount  to 
much.  We  there  lost  a  few  men.  If  they  lost  any  they 
took  them  away.  They  retired  after  their  forces  on  the 
upper  bank  of  the  bayou  were  defeated.  They  numbered, 
in  all,  but  fifteen  hundred  men.  All  of  our  force  was  not 
engaged.  They  destroyed  all  the  bridges.  The  General 
had  ordered  flat-boats  towed  up  from  Donaldsonville,  so 
that  we  had  a  bridge  that  artillery  could  cross  over  on,  in 
ten  minutes  after  the  fight  commenced.  Had  it  not  been 
for  this  they  would  have  done  us  much  injury.  We  are 
deficient  in  cavalry  in  this  department;  if  we  had  had  more 
we  should  have  taken  the  other  three  guns  of  Roylston 
Battery;  our  infantry  could  not  follow  rapidly  enough. 

We  have  not  had  any  rain  since  leaving  the  city,  and  the 
weather  has  been  perfect,  quite  cool,  with  a  heavy  frost 
nearly  every  morning.  I  do  not  remember  in  my  experience 
such  continued  fine  weather;  the  men  have  slept  in  the  open 
field  every  night  but  one  since  leaving  Camp  Kearney  at 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  79 

Carrollton.  I  have  been  as  well  as  possible,  but  we  have 
always  had  a  house  for  head-quarters,  sleeping  on  the  floor. 
We  live  on  the  country,  and  have  plenty  of  fresh  meats.  I 
am  quite  busy,  and  find  my  position  all  that  I  anticipated. 
The  brigade  is  an  excellent  one,  the  men  healthy  and  jolly; 
officers  and  men  have  perfect  confidence  in  the  General;  this 
is  as  it  should  be  when  success  is  expected,  We  hear  all 
sorts  of  rumors,  not  very  reliable,  as  to  the  rebels  on  the 
other  side  the  bay;  they  probably  number  near  three  thou- 
sand, part  of  them  first-rate  troops,  the  rest  conscripts  and 
militia;  a  thousand  of  them  are  the  same  that  fought  us  the 
other  day;  -they  will  not  be  likely  to  attack  us.  General 
Butler  and  Staff  came  up  here  on  Friday  and  returned  the 
next  day. 

CAMP  STEVENS,  LA.,  NOVEMBER  29. 

I  write  this  letter  in  the  hope  that  it  will  be  in  time  for 
the  steamer  that  is  to  sail  this  afternoon,  and  to  say  that  no 
military  event  of  consequence  has  transpired  since  my  last. 
We  are  still  in  camp  near  Thibodeaux,  fifty  odd  miles  from 
New  Orleans.  The  change  has  come,  and  we  are  having 
rain  and  otherwise  disagreeable  weather;  the  men  now  have 
tents  and  are  sheltered.  My  usual  supply  of  letters  were 
received  last  week,  the  letter  of  credit  being  in  one  of  them. 
The  shooting  near  here  is  good,  and  we  get  many  snipe  and 
ducks.  The  weather  is  improving  to-day. 

NOVEMBER  28. — Yesterday  was  Thanksgiving  day;  the 
weather  was  perfect;  the  men  had  quite  a  time  and  looked 
finely.  The  secesh  have  all  left,  and  gone  to  the  other  side 
of  Berwick's  Bay.  We  are  sending  hundreds  of  horses  and 


80  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

mules  to  New  Orleans,  for  the  regular  United  States  artil- 
lery stationed  there.  We  are  on  horseback  half  of  the  day; 
I  enjoy  it  very  much,  and  now  weigh  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  pounds.  If  this  arrives  before  my  package  is 
sent  out,  please  send  the  belt  to  my  infantry  sword. 

DECEMBER  8. — We  are  still  in  camp  near  Thibodeaux, 
with  little  to  do.  I  was  in  the  city  a  few  days,  lately,  and 

saw  W ;  he  was  thinking  of  making  application  for  a 

commission  in  the  new  Texas  regiment  of  cavalry  now  being 

raised ;  Captain  Magee  will  approve  his  papers.    G.  W 's 

regiment  will  not  have  long  to  serve  when  they  leave  the 
State;  it  seems  poor  policy  to  raise  troops  for  so  short 
time.  We  are  all  anxious  to  hear  from  General  Banks' 
expedition ;  the  New  York  papers  are  full  of  the  matter. 
The  Southerners  have  rumors  of  the  defeat  of  General  Burn- 
side.  The  conscripts  are  deserting  the  rebels  from  Port 
Hudson,  and  from  the  other  side  of  Berwick's  Bay;  we 
have  a  number  come  in  every  day;  last  Sunday  Captain 
Perkins  captured  two  lieutenants.  The  enclosed  photograph 
of  Major  Strong  please  put  in  my  book  with  the  others,  for 
preservation;  will  send  one  of  the  General  soon. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  DECEMBER  17,  1862. 

I  have  received  two  letters  this  week.  General  Banks 
and  expedition  have  arrived,  or  rather,  part  of  the  troops, 
one  brigade  has  already  gone  to  Baton  Rouge;  the  enemy 
have  very  few  men  there,  and  there  will  be  no  necessity  for 
any  fighting.  We  are  not  particularly  pleased  that  General 
Butler  should  have  been  superseded.  General  Banks  has 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  81 

men  enough  to  take  possession  of  this  country,  but  the  great 
fight  of  the  Southwest  will  be  at  Port  Hudson,  where  there 
is  a  large  force  strongly  intrenched,  and  which  place  will 
undoubtedly  be  reinforced.  General  Weitzel  is  in  town,  and 

has  reported  to  General  Banks;  he  will  endorse  "W 's 

application  for  a  commission  in  the  Texas  regiment  of  cav- 
alry. I  have  been  urged  to  apply  for  a  majority  in  it,  but 
shall  not,  much  preferring  my  present  position.  The  officers 
are  nearly  all  selected,  and  there  is  but  little  doubt  of  its 
succeeding.  We  expect  to  be  ordered  North  (that  is,  up  the 
river),  as  our  brigade  is  in  fine  order,  and,  for  regiments 
that  have  been  in  service  for  more  than  a  year,  very  full, 
the  four  numbering  twenty-eight  hundred  men  for  duty, 
— then  we  have  our  artillery  and  cavalry,  besides  the  First 
Louisiana,  which  is  now  at  Donaldsonville. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  DECEMBER  22.— I  have  been  in  town 
some  days  past.  General  Weitzel  expects  to  return  to  Thi- 
bodeauxville  to-morrow;  if  he  goes,  I  shall.  The  General 
has  been  in  consultation  with  General  Banks.  This  city  is 
now  the  most  expensive  one  I  have  ever  been  in,  much  more 
so  than  Paris  or  London. 

We  are  now  to  be  in  .General  Augur's  division, — the 
centre  brigade  ;  we  are  to  leave  Thibodeaux  this  week 
and  march  to  Donaldsonville,  and  there  embark  for  Baton 
Rouge,  where  most  of  the  new  troops  are  going.  Magee's 

companies  have  gone,  and  I  think  W went  with  them; 

if  he  did  not,  shall  see  him  to-day.  Lieutenant  P has 

resigned,  and  his  resignation  has  been  accepted;  he  goes 
home  in  the  ship  with  General  Butler  and  Staff";  they  sail 
to-morrow.  Enclosed  is  a  photograph  taken  at  Jacobs'. 


82  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 


CAMP  STEVENS,  DECEMBER  29. 

There  is  not  much  news.     Have  received  several  letters 

from  you,  enclosing  those  from  M and  L .     I  will 

send  them  some  rebel  stamps  soon.  We  seem  to  nave  been 
badly  whipped  in  Virginia,  as  usual.  I  hope  General  Butler 
will  be  given  a  good  position:  he  certainly  has  done  well  in 
Louisiana.  Major  Strong  has  been  appointed  Brigadier, 
but  he  has  gone  north  with  General  Butler.  General 
Weitzel  is  still  in  New  Orleans,  with  General  Banks.  We 
move  as  soon  as  he  returns.  Our  brigade  has  been  broken 
up,  in  order  to  scatter  the  old  regiments.  The  Thirteenth 
Connecticut  and  Eighth  New  Hampshire,  both  go  out  of 
this  brigade,  and  green  ones  are  to  come  in  to  fill  their 
places,  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New  York  being  one 
of  the  new  ones.  Everything  moves  very  slowly.  We 
have  now  been  in  this  camp  two  months.  The  weather  has 
been  rainy,  and  the  roads  are  very  muddy.  We  cannot 
leave  here,  for  want  of  transportation,  as  the  Thirteenth 
Connecticut  and  Eighth  New  Hampshire  took  all  we  had, 
and  it  must  return  here  from  Donaldson ville  for  our  use, 
unless  we  leave  all  our  camp  equipage.  Did  I  tell  you  in 

my  last  that  I  saw  E P in  this  city.     He  was 

looking  finely,  and  had  been  acting  commissary  of  a  trans- 
port, with  a  New  Hampshire  Regiment  on  board.  What  do 
you  think  of  the  European  powers  recognizing  the  Confed- 
eracy? We  have  heard  that  Secretary  Seward  has  resigned. 
Who  will  take  his  place?  We  cannot  even  guess. 
JANUARY  8,  1863. — We  are  still  in  camp  here,  and  have 


LETTERS    FROM   LOUISIANA.  83 

been  joined  by  several  New  York  regiments  of  three 
years  men.  I  have  received  my  box  of  clothing,  which 
was  in  first-rate  order;  all  the  things  were  just  what  were 
wanted.  I  do  not  know  when  we  shall  move  from  this 
place;  suppose  not  at  present.  It  cannot  be  intended  we 
should,  or  the  new  regiments  would  not  have  been  sent 
here.  The  paper,  with  the  New  Orleans  letter  about  our 
mess,  has  also  been  received;  it  was  not  exactly  true,  how- 
ever. The  fifty  was  for  nearly  two  months,  during  which 
time  we  paid  little  or  nothing  for  our  meats,  which  are  the 
principal  items  of  cost  in  our  mess  bills.  I  have  been  in 
town  with  the  General  nearly  all  of  the  last  month,  and  it 
is  a  most  expensive  place,  particularly  for  horse  hire.  We 
have  no  news  here  to  communicate,  of  any  kind.  Did  you 
see  the  poetry  in  Yanity  Fair  about  Weitzel's  four  thou- 
sand, or  his  elephant,  in  Frank  Leslie's  Budget  of  Fun  for 
January. 

JANUARY  10,  1863. — By  General  Banks'  new  order  I 
shall  have  to  give  up  my  horse  belonging  to  Read's  com- 
pany. He  is  not  the  best  one,  but  I  am  sorry  to  lose  this 
old  one,  as  I  am  accustomed  to  him,  and  he  is  very  tough 
and  reliable,  and  will  stand  between  two  cannon  when 
firing,  without  minding  it.  He  is  not  worth  the  quarter- 
master's price,  and  I  can  buy  a  suitable  one  for  less.  It 
takes  a  long  while  to  accustom  them  to  fire.  The  private 

secretary  of  General  Banks  is  T ,  a  Salem  boy  that  I 

used  to  know  very  well  years  ago,  but  had  not  seen  for  a 
long  time.  He  has  been  living  recently  in  Chicago.  We 

have  a  superior  man  for  brigade  surgeon,  Dr.  B ,  of  the 

Seventy-Fifth  New  York.     His  age  is  between  fifty  and 


84          PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN. 

sixty,  and  he  has  had  great  experience.  I  now  room  with 
him.  The  Seventy-Fifth,  the  One  Hundred  and  Fourteenth, 
and  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New  York  regiments  are 
in  our  brigade.  We  expect  to  move  soon.  The  city  is 
full  of  rumors.  Many  of  these  relate  to  us.  They  say  that 
we  have  been  whipped  by  the  Confederates  several  times, 
they  having  crossed  Berwick's  Bay.  We  have  not  seen 
them,  and  only  wish  they  would  try  the  experiment.  I  have 
the  promise  of  a  bull  dog,  to  be  given  me  in  a  few  days. 
How  would  mother  like  to  have  him  sent  home? 

NEW  ORLEANS,  JANUARY  28,  1863. 

I  have  been  in  town  this  week  past,  and  return  to  camp 
to-morrow.  General  Weitzel  has  been  to  Baton  Rouge 
with  General  Banks,  and  has  just  returned.  Our  brigade 
has  been  on  an  expedition  to  the  other  side  of  Berwick's 
Bay.  The  troops  consisted  of  the  Sixth  Michigan,  Twenty- 
First  Indiana,  Seventy-Fifth  and  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth 
New  York,  Eighth  Vermont,  and  Twelfth  Connecticut 
infantry  regiments,  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Battery,  First 
Maine,  and  Company  A,  First  Regular  Artillery,  with  one 
Section  of  Manning's  Battery.  We  started  with  four  days' 
provisions,  and  were  gone  only  three  days  from  Brashear 
City.  The  object  of  the  excursion  was  the  destruction  of 
the  partially  iron  clad  boat,  I.  E.  Cotton..  The  rebel  force 
was  not  more  than  half  so  large  as  ours.  We  drove  them 
several  miles,  when  they  burned  the  boat.  We  had  quite  a 
heavy  artillery  fight  all  day,  the  enemy  having  two  thirty- 
two  pound  guns  on  the  boat,  one  forty-eight,  and  two  or 


LETTERS    FROM   LOUISIANA.  85 

three  twelve-pound  howitzers,  besides  ten  field  pieces  on 
shore.  We  had  four  gunboats  under  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Buchanan,  who  was  killed,  and  the  force  named 
above,  under  General  Weitzel.  Our  loss  was  forty  or  fifty, 
most  of  them  wounded  only,  and  in  the  gunboats  a  dozen 
more.  They  could  only  proceed  a  few  miles  above  Patter- 
sonville,  owing  to  obstructions  in  the  Teche,  where  we  fished 
out  three  large  torpedoes,  intended  to  blow  up  the  boats. 
Our  success  was  complete.  The  enemy  lost  many  more 
than  we  did.  We  buried  twelve  of  their  dead,  and  took 
fifty  prisoners;  and  at  one  time  not  a  man  was  to  be  seen 
on  the  deck  of  the  Cotton,  our  sharp-shooters  driving  them 
from  their  guns,  or  shooting  all  that  appeared;  the  loss  on 
her  must  have  been  very  heavy.  It  is  expected  that  our 
brigade  will  move  again  directly.  The  Salem  Infantry  are 
at  Carrollton. 

THIBODEAUX,  JANUARY  30. 

I  have  been  two  days  at  Brashear  City,  on  Berwick's  Bay, 
this  week.  The  cavalry  of  the  enemy  are  seen  from  there 
nearly  every  day.  It  is  now  more  than  three  months  since 
we  came  here,  expecting,  at  the  time,  to  stop  only  one  night. 
My  pay,  including  extra  staff  allowance,  is  less  than  it  was 
as  lieutenant  of  cavalry;  and  as  I  have  servant  to  pay  and 
furnish  with  clothing,  and  half-pay  of  the  hostler,  which 
expense  Lieutenant  Graves  and  myself  share,  my  funds  do 
not  supply  my  wants.  The  English  government  pay  their 
troops  east  of  Suez  double  the  usual  home  sum,  making  the 
difference  in  pay  according  to  cost  and  station.  Our  troops 
should  be  paid  on  a  like  plan.  When  on  Ship  Island  we 


86  PICKERING   DODGE   AI<£EN. 

could  not  expend  half  the  sum  paid  us;  but  at  New  Orleans 
and  in  this  vicinity,  when  we  draw  our  extra  supplies  from 
that  city,  the  pay  does  not  meet  our  expenses.  As  I  do  not 
see  any  necessity,  at  least  for  the  present,  for  any  other 
course,  I  shall  continue  to  live  as  I  have  been  accustomed 
to,  and  economize  when  it  becomes  necessary,  and  shall 
draw  for  what  money  may  be  required.  The  rebels,  accord- 
ing to  their  official  report  of  our  last  encounter  with  them, 
lost  one  hundred  said  fifty  in  killed  and  wounded.  Among 
the  killed  the  lieutenant-colonel  of  their  cavalry,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Stevens  of  their  navy,  the  officer  who  'commanded 
the  celebrated  ram  Arkansas.  He  commanded  the  Cotton 
after  her  Captain  (Fuller)  was  wounded.  Our  loss  was 
less;  only  six  killed  and  twenty-eight  wounded;  one  of  the 

killed  being  Lieutenant  of  the  Seventy-Fifth    New 

York,  of  the  brigade  troops.  Our  boats  lost  Lieutenant 
Commander  Buchanan  and  three  men  killed  and  eight 
wounded.  We  all  feel  very  badly  at  the  loss  of  Lieutenant 
Commander  Buchanan ;  he  was  one  of  the  most  able  naval 
officers  here,  and  a  very  pleasant  companion.  In  the  rebels' 
report  they  exaggerate  our  loss,  and  state  it  to  exceed  their 
own.  Lieutenant  Commander  Cooke  now  commands  our 
boats.  The  newspapers  we  found  the  other  side  of  Ber- 
wick's Bay  were  printed  on  wall,  or  house  paper,  and  of 
course  only  on  one  side. 

THIBODEATJX,  FEBRUARY  6,  1863. 

When  in  town  last   week  I   went  to  Carrollton.    The 
Infantry  are  in  camp  there.    I  found  D P in  the 


LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  87 

hospital.  He  was  so  much  improved  that  he  expected  to 
go  to  Baton  Rouge,  with  his  regiment,  the  next  day.  I  saw 

W and   C ,  S and  L ,  the  evening  that  I 

arrived  in  town.    They  went  to  Baton  Rouge  the  next  day. 

W had  not  shaved  since  he  left  home,  so  he  was  looking 

rough,  but  well.  I  received  long  letters  from  you  yester- 
day. The  enclosed  one,  for  Mobile,  can  probably  be  sent 
through  the  lines,  ere  long.  You  say  that  I  have  been 
commissioned  as  first  lieutenant  of  Captain  Read's  company 
of  cavalry.  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  this,  although  I  may 
never  be  with  the  company.  I  do  not  have  a  commission 
on  the  staff,  only  an  appointment  from  head-quarters. 
The  acting  Adjutant  General  is  not  so  situated.  In  case  the 
General  should  resign,  or  give  up  his  command,  by  cause  of 
accident,  or  from  any  other  reason,  I  should  be  discharged 
also,  unless  I  held  a  commission  elsewhere.  I  find  my  posi- 
tion, on  the  staff,  all  that  I  anticipated,  and  the  General  is 
esteemed  as  one  of  the  very  best  officers ;  and  thus  far  he 
has  succeeded  admirably  in  everything  that  he  has  attempt- 
ed. We  expect  to  move  somewhere  very  soon.  My  news- 
papers did  not  come  with  my  letters.  They  were  not  ready. 
I  expect  to  receive  them  to-morrow. 

THIBODEAUX,  FEBRUARY  18,  1863. 

I  received  a  long  letter  from  you  yesterday,  and  was 
delighted  to  get  it,  as  it  was  quite  a  long  time  since  1  had 
heard.  Half  the  brigade  are  still  here,  and  the  other  half  are 
at  Brashear  City.  The  weather  has  been  bad  recently,  and 
the  mud  is  horrible.  I  have  been  at  the  bay  most  of  the 


88  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

time  recently;  went  over  with  twenty  men  of  the  Seventy- 
Fifth  New  York,  and  caught  two  rebel  cavalry  men, 
with  their  horses  and  rifles.  We  laid  nearly  all  one  rainy 
night  in  the  mud  to  do  it.  It  was  their  outer  picket  post  of 
three  men;  the  third  escaped,  we  being  on  foot,  and  they 
mounted.  I  have  been  in  one  of  the  gunboats,  all  up 
through  the  lakes,  and  several  of  the  bayous;  the  object 
being  to  obtain  information,  &c.  I  received  a  splendid 

present  yesterday  of  a  pair  of  solid  silver  spurs  from  

of  Louisiana. 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  MARCH  6,  1863. 

I  have  received  three  long  letters  in  the  last  ten  days, 
during  which  time  I  have  not  written,  having  been  quite 
busy.  The  brigade  is  now  called  the  second  of  the  First 
Division,  and  is  under  command  of  Major-General  Augur. 
Colonel  Dudley  commands  one  of  the  other  brigades, 
and  he  is  at  Baton  Rouge.  We  like  our  camp  here,  as 
we  were  well  tired  of  Thibodeaux.  The  rebel  pickets  are 
in  sight  every  day,  on  the  other  side  of  the  bay,  it  being 
about  one-third  of  a  mile  from  the  point  where  we  have  just 
built  a  strong  battery,  and  have  already  mounted  several 
heavy  guns.  General  Sibley  now  commands  the  rebels 
opposite  us.  There  are  two  or  three  of  his  regiments  at 
Camp  Bisland,  about  ten  miles  from  here,  and  others  higher 
up.  Our  brigade  is  in  splendid  order,  particularly  four  of 
the  regiments,  and  they  are  generally  healthy  and  jolly. 
One  of  the  new  ones,  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New 
York,  has  considerable  sickness;  a  necessary  experience,  as 


- 

LETTERS    FROM    LOUISIANA.  89 

it  seems,  for  all  new  men  to  suffer.  You  must  congratulate 

H F for  me;  shall  write  him  if  I  find  time.  I  have 

seen  General  D  wight,  Howard,  and  Charles  and  Fletcher 
Abbott,  and  two  other  Bostonians.  General  Dwight  is  at 
Baton  Rouge;  General  Andrews  at  Carrollton. 

I  only  hear  of  W through  your  letters  since  the 

company  left  New  Orleans.  Have  you  seen  the  plan 
for  making  the  Atchafalaya  the  outlet  of  the  Mississippi, 
as  published  in  the  New  York  papers.  The  mouth  of 
the  river  is  directly  opposite  this  point.  I  see  by  the 
Boston  Gazette  that  the  First  Battalion  of  the  Second 
Cavalry  have  left  Massachusetts  under  Caspar  Crownin- 
shield. 

The  winter  has  disappeared  very  quickly,  and  we  seem  to 
be  as  far  from  peace  as  ever,  and  to  have  accomplished  but 
little,  if  anything.  I  hope  in  the  spring  campaign  we  shall 
be  more  successful.  General  Shepley  and  Lieutenant  Bowles 
have  been  here  some  days,  and  have  just  left  for  the  city. 
I  do  not  expect  any  fighting  before  we  move,  as  the  rebels 
will  not  attack  us. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  MARCH  14,  1863. 

I  came  in  with  the  General  day  before  yesterday,  and 
return  to  camp  to-morrow  at  Brashear.  This  is  a  pleasant 
place,  and  esteemed  as  healthy.  We  are  all  well  pleased 
with  the  conscript  law,  and  think  it  will  work  advantageously 
for  our  army.  Men  under  short  enlistments  are  very  much 
inclined  to  be  counting  the  time  when  they  are  to  be  dis- 
charged, and  do  not  make  as  good  soldiers ;  and  when  they 

8* 


m 

90  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

have  become  hardened  to  camp  life,  and  learned  somewhat 
of  drill  and  discipline,  they  are  mustered  out  of  service.  It 
is  not  so  with  the  men  enlisted  for  a  long  time,  or  for  the 
war.  They  do  not  give  it  a  thought,  and  consequently  are 
more  contented  and  interested.  They  have  their  jokes  upon 
the  short-time  men,  calling  them  the  four  hundred  dollar 
men,  in  consequence  of  the  high  bounties  that  have  been 
lately  paid  at  the  north.  The  rebels  in  New  Orleans  are 
full  of  rumors  relative  to  our  brigade,  and  many  of  them 
believe  that  we  have  been  badly  beaten,  and  half  of  us  taken 
prisoners,  and  the  rest  driven  away.  The  sole  foundation 
for  this  story  was  the  firing  of  a  few  shots  by  some  Texan 
cavalry,  early  in  the  week.  We  fired  one  shell  at  them, 
when  they  disappeared;  there  was  no  one  hurt.  We  have 
such  performances  every  week,  and  they  probably  are 
the  origin  of  the  stories  which  are  so  common  in  New 
Orleans.  I  have  received  my  commission  as  First  Lieuten- 
ant of  the  First  Unattached  Company  of  Cavalry  from  Mas- 
sachusetts. It  is  dated  the  first  day  of  January,  1863.  It 
came  to  hand  several  weeks  since.  The  photograph  sent 
was  taken  in  New  Orleans.  The  group  consists  of  General 
Weitzel,  Captain  Alden  of  the  Richmond,  Captain  Perkins, 
Lieutenant  Terry  of  the  Richmond,  Colonel  Merritt,  Seventy- 
Fifth  New  York,  and  three  of  Major-General  Augur's  Staff 
and  others,  myself  included.  You  can  tell  the  General  by 
his  star. 

.BAYOU  BGEUF,  LA.,  MARCH  24, 1863. 

I  received  several  letters  and  papers  by  the  mail  before 
the  last.    You  fear  my  having  the  rheumatism.     I  have 


LETTERS   FROM   LOUISIANA.  91 

never  been  so  exposed  to  it  as  the  last  four  or  five  months, 
and  have  never  had  so  little;  one  slight  touch,  several  weeks 
since,  one  morning,  is  all  that  I  have  had  since  leaving  home 
last  August,  and  my  health  could  not  be  improved.  I  have 
been  up  two  nights  of  the  last  three.  Night  before  last  was 
on  the  lakes  with  a  gunboat,  as  a  few  secesh  were  there  in 
boats,  probably  trying  to  ascertain  our  whereabouts,  as  we 
moved  the  night  before  that  to  this  point,  seven  miles  from 
Berwick's  Bay,  and  near  New  Orleans.  We  shall  probably 
return  to  the  Bay  again  soon.  The  Confederate  ram  Queen 
of  the  West,  and  gunboats  Hart  and  Webb  are  supposed  to 
be  in  this  vicinity.  We  still  hold  Brashear  with  a  strong 
picket,  and  changed  to  this  place  on  account  of  its  strength 
of  position.  We  had  quite  a  lively  skirmish,  two  or  three 
days  since,  with  the  secesh  picket;  they  attempted  to  cap- 
ture a  dozen  of  our  men,  when  the  General  sent  me  over 
with  seventy  or  eighty  infantry.  We  drove  them  about 
two  miles,  and  fired  a  good  many  shots,  without  any  one 
being  hurt.  They  numbered  fifteen  or  twenty  mounted 
men,  and  kept  at  very  long  range.  After  we  had  driven 
them  beyond  a  point  the  General  sent  Perkins  over  with 
his  cavalry.  He  drove  them  seven  miles,  as  far  as  Pat- 
terson, capturing  five  men  and  six  horses,  and  wounding 
one  other  man  and  several  horses.  Perkins'  horse  was 
shot  through  the  head,  and  he  lost  four  other  horses,  but 
no  men.  He  was  then  driven  back  by  two  or  three  hun- 
dred secesh  cavalry,  but  without  losing  a  man  or  horse;  so 
this  was  quite  a  success  for  him. 

General  Banks  and  several  of  his  staff  were  here  yester- 
day.   It  poured  nearly  all  day,  so  they  saw  little  of  the 


92  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

camp.  We  were  all  wet  enough,  and  had  been  for  twenty- 
four  thours.  They  went  to  Brashear  and  dined  with  us,  on 
beans  and  hard  bread  and  the  like.  We  live  pretty  well, 
except  when  moving,  then  we  are  glad  to  get  anything. 
What  do  you  think  of  Port  Hudson?  The  troops  have  all 
returned  to  Baton  Rouge.  The  Hartford  and  Albatross 
are  said  to  be  near  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River.  I  send 
you  some  secesh  newspapers,  given  me  near  Pattersonville, 
where  I  went  two  days  since  with  a  flag  of  truce.  We 
have  been  so  busy  lately,  moving  and  doing  one  thing  and 
another,  that  I  have  not  had  any  time  to  write.  This  is  a 
perfect  day,  and  we  have  our  tents  up  and  everything  hung 
out  to  dry.  We  all  hope  to  advance  soon,  and  why  every 
thing  moves  so  slowly  we  cannot  tell.  Our  brigade  is  in 
perfect  order,  and  is  much  praised  by  all  who  visit  us ;  and 
it  is  the  only  one  that  has  done  anything  in  this  depart- 
ment since  its  formation  last  September.  General  Arnold 
was  also  here  yesterday.  He  has  just  been  appointed  a 
brigadier — is  a  captain  in  the  Regular  United  States  artil- 
lery. Have  you  seen  that  Major  Strong  has  been  made  a 
brigadie»?  Please  send  my  watch,  first  having  it  put  in 
perfect  order;  my  hunter  is  out  of  order,  the  mainspring 
broken,  and  otherwise  injured.  Send  by  Adams  &  Co. 

April  fourteenth,  letters  were  received  from  General 
Weitzel  and  others,  giving  an  account  of  the  capture  of 
the  gunboat  Diana,  with  Pickering  on  board  of  her, 
and  of  his  having  been  wounded  and  taken  prisoner. 
These  letters  and  newspapers  sent  us  give  all  the 


LETTER   FROM   GENERAL    WEITZEL.  93 

circumstances  and  particulars  of  the  fight,   and  the 
reason  for  his  having  been  on  board  the  boat. 

General  Weitzel's  letter  was  dated  "  Head-quarters 
Second  Brigade,  First  Division,  April  2,  1866,"  and 
reads  as  follows  : — 

DEAR  SIR, — I  regret  to  inform  you  that  your  son  Pick- 
ering, my  aid,  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  by  the 
rebels,  on  last  Saturday.  His  wound  is  not  dangerous. 
The  ball  passed  under  his  left  shoulder  blade  through  his 
body,  and  lodged  under  the  skin  of  his  left  arm ;  it  has  been 
extracted  by  my  surgeon,  who  went  up  under  a  flag  of 
truce.  Pickering  is  at  the  house  of  a  surgeon  in  Patterson- 
ville,  and  is  very  kindly  treated.  He  is  attended  by  a 
number  of  ladies.  We  are  permitted  to  send  him  anything 
we  desire.  I  sent  him  up  money,  clothes,  medicines,  flour, 
coffee,  &c.  He  is  treated  better  than  the  other  officers, 
because,  as  the  rebels  say,  he  behaved  in  a  most  brave 
manner.  The  disaster  is  the  result  of  disobedience  of  orders 
on  the  part  of  the  navy  officer  commanding  the  vessel. 
Fearing  that  this  officer  was  inclined  to  be  rash,  I  sent 
Pickering  with  him,  to  see  that  my  orders  were  not  exceed- 
ed; but  although  he  (Pickering)  expostulated  with  the 
captain  four  times,  he  persisted  in  disobeying  my  instruc- 
tions. I  hope  that  the  rules  on  the  non-exchange  of  officers 
will  soon  be  m  cm  led,  so  that  Pickering  may  soon  again 
join  my  military  family.  I  can  assure  you  I  miss  him  very, 
very  much.  His  energy,  bravery  and  good  judgment 
(qualities  which  I  thought  I  recognized  in  him,  and  which 


94  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

caused  me  to  place  him  on  my  staff)  make  him  invaluable 
to  me.  It  may  solace  the  grief  of  your  family  to  know 
that,  on  this  occasion,,  as  on  a  half  dozen  previous  ones, 
Pickering  behaved  in  the  bravest  and  most  gallant  mariner. 
At  one  time  he  was  the  only  soul  fighting  the  enemy,  and  he 
did  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  boat  from  falling  into  their 
hands.  Hoping  that  it  may  never  again  be  my  duty  to  send 
you  such  disagreeable  news  as  the  above,  and  with  my 
compliments  to  yourself  and  family, 

I  remain  truly  yours, 

G.  WEITZEL, 

Brigadier-General  United  States  Volunteers. 

Extract  from  a  letter  written  by  an  old  school- 
mate, dated  "  Head-quarters  Department  of  the  Gulf, 
New  Orleans,  March  31,  1863"  :— 

Your  son,  Lieutenant  Allen,  was  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner,  while  making  a  reconnoissance  upon  the  gunboat 
Diana  in  Grand  Lake.  The  whole  thing  was  the  result  of 
an  unaccountable  disobedience  of  orders  upon  the  part  of 
the  captain  of  the  gunboat,  who  was  killed  at  the  first  fire. 
He  was  ordered  by  General  Weitzel  to  come  back  by  the 
same  route  he  took  on  his  way  up.  In  fact,  to  prevent  any 
such  thing  occurring,  your  son  was  sent  by  General  Weitzel 
upon  the  reconnoissance.  He  however  persisted  in  disobey- 
ing the  orders  given  him,  and  against  the  repeated  remon- 
strances of  Lieutenant  Allen.  The  consequence  was  the 
capture  of  the  boat,  and  the  killing  or  taking  prisoners  of 


WOUNDED    AND    A   PRISONER.  95 

the  officers  and  men.    The  details  you  will  find  in  The  Era 
newspaper,  which  I  enclose. 

General  Weitzel  informs  me  that  the  ball  has  been 
extracted  by  one  of  our  surgeons,  sent  up  by  a  flag  of  truce. 
He  has  also  communicated  with  your  son  twice  by  flag  of 
truce,  since  the  affair,  and  has  sent  him  everything  he 
needed.  The  ball,  which  General  Weitzel  gave  me,  I  send 
you  by  express.  I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  you,  as 
Pickering  was  an  old  school-fellow  and  Salem  boy  with  me. 
Yours,  respectfully, 

j F.  T , 

Private  Secretary  to  Major-General  Banks. 

Letter  from  Pickering,  when  a  prisoner,  dated 
44  Patterson ville,  La.,  April  6,  1863"  :— 

* 

You  will  have  heard,  before  receiving  this,  of  my  having 
been  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  I  am  getting  well  quite 
rapidly;  have  excellent  care,  and  have  been  treated  with 
the  greatest  kindness  since  my  capture.  I  am  wounded  in 
the  shoulder  and  arm,  and  have  a  cut  on  the  hand,  from  & 
fragment  of  a  shell.  Dr.  Benedict  (our  brigade  surgeon) 
came  by  flag  of  truce  to  see  me,  the  day  after  our  capture, 
and  extracted  the  ball.  There  is  now  very  little,  if  any 
danger  from  my  wounds.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  when  we 
shall  be  exchanged;  may  be  in  two  or  three  months;  may 
be  in  as  many  days,  although  I  do  not  think  the  last  chance 
worth  much.  I  am  now  at  Dr.  Grout's,  in  this  village,  and 
am  perfectly  comfortable.  This  letter  I  expect  will  go 
to-morrow  by  flag  of  truce.  Should  anything  of  interest 


96  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

occur  in  the  meantime,  will  add  to  this.  Give  my  love  to 
mother,  Marion  and  Lizzie.  It  is  doubtful  if  I  have  an 
opportunity  to  write  again.  Yours,  affectionately. 

Additional  note  by  Captain  Cowen,  dated  "  Camp 
Reno,  April  9,  1863  "  :— 

I  enclose  a  few  lines  in  your  son's  letter,  which  I  took 
from  his  hand  yesterday  and  brought  over  on  a  flag  of 
truce.  He  wished  me  to  enclose  this  in  his  letter,  as  I  had 
seen  him  two  days  after  he  had  written. 

He  is  doing  well,  and  is  now  able  to  sit  up  nearly  half  of 
the  time.  He  appeared  in  excellent  spirits,  and  is  very  com- 
fortably situated,  at  Doctor  Grout's  plantation.  We  have 
sent  him  clothes,  and  such  provisions  as  he  could  not  pro- 
cure there  and  they  would  allow  to  come  inside  their  lines. 
I  expect  they  will  move  him  further  away  from  our  lines  in 
a  few  days,  as  we  shall  move  to  attack  the  enemy  to-morrow. 
I  could  not  tell  him  of  this,  for  one  of  their  officers  was  in 
the  room  with  us  all  the  time  I  spent  with  him.  Dr.  White- 
head  went  over  with  me  and  dressed  his  wounds.  Our 
troops  are  on  the  move,  and  I  must  now  close.  He  did  not 
surrender  until  escape  was  utterely  impossible,  and  be 
began  to  be  faint  from  his  wounds. 

Very  respectfully,  T.  E.  COWENS, 

Captain  and  A  id -de-Camp 

Full  particulars  of  the  capture  of  the  Federal  gun- 
boat Diana  were  furnished  by  a  special  correspondent 


THE   DIAXA    DISASTER.  97 

of  the  Boston  Traveller,  dated  "  Head-quarters  Weit- 
zel's  Division,  Bivouac  at  Bayou  Boeuf,  Monday,  March 
30, 1863,  midnight,"  as  follows  :— 

On  Sunday  evening  the  rotunda  of  the  St.  Charles  Hotel 
was  thronged,  as  usual,  with  its  heterogeneous  crowd  of 
people;  but  early  in  the  evening,  the  loyal  men  and  our 
officers  observed  considerable  jubilation  among  the  rebels 
assembled  there,  who  stood  together  in  knots  of  half  a 
dozen  or  more,  whispering  some  terrible  tale.  We  were 
not  long  in  ascertaining  the  cause  of  this  treasonable 
commotion,  which  proved  to  be  the  report  that  the  enemy 
had  captured  the  gunboat  Diana,  with  two  companies  of 
infantry,  at  Bayou  Teche.  Upon  making  the  proper  inqui- 
ries of  the  conductor  on  the  railroad  running  between 
Algiers  and  Brashear  City,  we  learned  that  the  sad  news 
was  indeed  true. 

Hurrying  over  to  Algiers,  an  accident  happened  to  the 
ferry-boat  plying  between  New  Orleans  and  Algiers,  which 
caused  me  to  miss  the  morning  train,  the  only  train  depart- 
ing for  Brashear  City.  Fortunately,  an  extra  train  was 
loading  with  a  portion  of  the  Twenty-First  Heavy  Artillery 
Regiment,  which  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Bayou  Bosuf, 
the  head-quarters  of  General  Weitzel.  Securing  a  few 
crackers  and  a  loaf  of  bread,  your  correspondent  jumped 
into  one  of  the  cattle  cars,  and  in  a  few  hours  was  wending 
slowly  on  his  way  to  the  vicinity  of  the  disaster.  The  train 
reached  here,  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  in  nine  hours. 

To  Captain  J.  B.    Hubbard,  Aid-de-Camp  to   General 

9 


98  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

"Weitzel,  and  Assistant  Adjutant  General  of  Weitzel's 
Division,  who  went  up  on  the  steamer  Southern  Merchant, 
on  Sunday  afternoon,  with  a  flag  of  truce,  I  am  deeply 
indebted  for  the  following  interesting  particulars  concerning 
this  unhappy  event.  I  am  also  under  lasting  obligations  to 
several  of  General  WeitzeFs  Staff  for  the  hospitalities 
extended  on  the  trip  to  their  head-quarters. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  the  twenty-eighth  instant,  Captain 
Peterson  of  the  gunboat  Diana,  having  on  board  a  detach- 
ment of  twenty-nine  men  from  Company  A,  Twelfth  Con- 
necticut Regiment,  and  forty  men  from  Company  F,  One 
Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New  York,  was  ordered  to  steam 
through  Grand  Lake  to  the  mouth  of  Bayou  Teche.  The 
object  was  to  make  a  sort  of  reconnoissance  in  that  vicinity, 
and  to  discover,  if  possible,  the  correctness  of  a  report  in 
circulation,  that  the  rebels  had  a  force  of  three  hundred 
infantry  and  two  pieces  of  artillery  on  the  small  island 
between  Grand  Lake  and  the  Atchafalaya  River.  Lieu- 
tenant Pickering  Dodge  Allen,  Aid-de-Camp  to  General 
Weitzel,  accompanied  the  boat,  and  he  likewise  was  ordered 
to  gather  all  possible  information  regarding  the  strength 
and  position  of  the  enemy  from  the  negroes  along  the  banks 
of  the  stream.  Captain  Peterson  continued  to  push  on 
beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Teche,  in  order  to  pass  down  the 
Atchafalaya  River,  which  was  in  direct  violation  of  General 
WeitzeFs  orders.  Lieutenant  Allen  then  asked  Captain 
Peterson  what  he  would  do  in  case  he  was  suddenly  attacked 
by  a  rebel  battery.  lie  replied  he  was  not  afraid  of  any 
batteries  they  had  and  that  he  could  blow  any  six  of  their 
batteries  to  pieces.  Another  object  of  this  expedition  was 


THE    DIANA    DISASTER.  99 

to  discover  if  the  rebel  steamer  Dart  had  run  out  of  the 
Teche,  as  it  was  rumored  by  secesh. 

Not  more  than  an  hour  after  the  conversation  alluded  to 
above  had  taken  place,  when  being  just  above  Pattersonville, 
Captain  Peterson  saw  a  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  and 
one  or  two  sections  of  light  artillery  on  the  shore.  Lieuten- 
ant Allen  then  advised  Captain  Peterson  to  turn  back  and 
avoid,  if  possible,  a  conflict  with  them,  but  Captain  Peterson 
would  not  regard  the  protestation  of  Lieutenant  Allen  but 
kept  on  up  the  bayou,  and,  when  he  got  within  range,  he 
opened  upon  the  rebels  with  his  thirty-pound  pivot  rifled 
gun.  The  rebels  at  once  replied  with  earnestness,  getting 
their  light  batteries  into  a  raking  position  and  sending,  their 
three  hundred  Texas  cavalry,  dismounted,  to  shower  their 
leaden  hail  upon  our  gunners.  The  fire  of  these  Texas 
sharp-shooters  was  terrific,  and,  as  their  deadly  balls  began 
to  whistle  over  the  decks,  it  told  fearfully  upon  our  men. 
The  gunners  being  completely  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the 
rebel  sharp-shooters,  it  was  but  the  work  of  a  few  minutes  to 
pick  off  every  man  who  dared  to  show  himself  on  deck. 

The  rebels  imitated  the  strategy  of  General  "Weitzel,  as  lie 
exhibited  it  in  his  attack  on  the  rebel  gunboat  "  Cotton," 
which  he  compelled  the  rebels  to  burn.  The  plan  was  for 
each  section  of  artillery  to  range  themselves  in  such  a 
position  as  to  command  the  whole  surface  of  the  Diana. 
Captain  Peterson  continued  to  fight  them  bow  on,  all  his 
guns  being  on  the  bow  of  the  Diana,  and  still  retreating 
slowly  with  his  boat,  when  the  fatal  bullet  completed  its 
errand  of  death,  and  Captain  Peterson,  who  was  standing 
in  the  pilot-house,  rushed  out  and  shouted,  "Great  God, 


100  PICKEKING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

they  have  killed  me,"  falling  a  lifeless  corpse  on  the  deck. 
Lieutenant  Pickering  Dodge  Allen  then  assumed  command 
of  the  Diana,  and  slowly  began  to  retreat  down  the  Atcha- 
falaya  Kiver  towards  Brashear  City.  The  rebels  seemed 
infuriated  at  this  attempt  to  escape,  and  they  fired  with  fear- 
ful rapidity,  using  artillery  and  rifles  with  good  execution. 

The  grape  and  canister  of  the  enemy  completely  cut  away 
the  bulwarks  of  the  Diana.  One  shot  penetrated  the  escape 
pipe,  which  enveloped  the  boat  in  scalding  steam.  The  tiller 
rope,  and  bell-wires  communicating  with  the  engineers7 
room,  were  also  shot  away.  The  escape  of  the  steam  made 
it  impossible  to  distinguish  any  object.  Executive-officer 
Hall  of  the  Diana,  having  been  killed  in  the  early  part  of  the 
engagement,  the  command  then  devolved  upon  Lieutenant 
Pickering  Dodge  Allen,  who  found  it  impossible  to  get  the 
sailors  to  stand  by  the  guns,  and  the  soldiers,  seeing  the 
vastly  superior  force  of  the  enemy  and  the  dead  and  dying 
laying  around  the  deck,  were  in  a  measure  disheartened. 

The  battery  used  by  the  rebels  was  an  old  Yalverde  bat- 
tery, formerly  in  the  regular  service  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  absence  of  Captain  Sayers,  the  commander  of  the 
battery,  it  was  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Kettles. 
The  Texas  sharp-shooters  belonged  to  Wallar's  Texas  Bat- 
talion, and  are  the  same  body  of  desperadoes  who  boarded 
the  Harriet  Lane  off  Galveston.  They  are  a  disorganized 
mob,  under  no  military  discipline  whatever,  paying  no 
regard  to  the  orders  of  officers,  but  fighting  and  roaming  at 
their  own  pleasure.  They  were  mounted  on  mules,  with  a 
few  creole  ponies  among  them.  It  was  the  same  body  of 
desperadoes  who  were  driven  into  the  swamps  by  our  troops 


THE    DIANA    DISASTER.  101 

sixty  miles  above  New  Orleans  last  August.  In  the  above 
engagement  they  lost  all  their  horses,  many  of  whom  they 
drove  into  the  swamp  in  order  to  aid  their  escape,  from 
whence  it  was  impossible  to  extricate  a  number  of  them, 
and  our  men  were  obliged  to  leave  them  there  to  starve  to 
death. 

It  ssems  that  they  have  never  received  another  supply  of 
horses,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  great  scarcity  of  good  ani- 
mals in  the  so-called  Confederacy.  Some  of  these  fellows 
carried  immense  bowie  knives,  two  and  three  feet  long. 

Mr.  Dudley,  the  pilot  of  the  Diana,  after  the  tiller  ropes 
were  cut  away  and  the  wires  connecting  with  engineers' 
rooms  severed  by  shot,  went  to  what  is  called  the  fighting 
wheel-  and  endeavored  to  back  down  the  Diana  by  her 
wheels,  as  her  rudder  was  shot  away.  While  he  was  stand- 
ing on  the  ladder,  giving  verbal  instructions  to  the  engineers 
below  as  to  which  wheel  should  be  used,  a  solid  shot  cut 
the  ladder  in  two  and  knocked  him  overboard. 

Previous  to  this  he  was  fearful  that  the  rebs  might  capture 
the  Diana  and  he,  being  a  Louisianian,  would  be  hung,  if 
captured,  so  he  threw  himself  overboard.  "Finding  himself 
in  the  water,  he  rose  to  the  surface  and  looking  up  he  espied 
the  white  flag,  which  told  him  that  the  boat's  crew  had 
surrendered  -and  that  he  was  in  a  very  unhealthy  place  if 
caught.  lie  swam  to  an  island,  a  distance  of  nearly  a  mile, 
with  three  negroes  who  had  also  jumped  overboard  from 
the  Diana,  and  after  a  short  rest,  he  began  his  tramp  of 
eight  or  nine  miles  to  our  fortifications  at  Brashear  City. 
Mr.  Dudley  had  a  terrible  time  in  escaping,  being  obliged 
to  wade  through  swamps  where  the  most  venomous  reptiles 


102  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

abounded  in  numbers.  He  was  compelled  to  use  a  club  to 
beat  off  the  moccason  snakes,  which  were  remarkably  numer- 
ous. Finally,  with  blistered  and  bleeding  feet,  Mr.  Dudley 
and  the  three  negroes  managed  to  reach  the  edge  of  Grand 
Lake,  and  seizing  an  old  dilapidated  boat  the  party  escaped 
to  our  pickets  on  Saturday  night. 

While  Lieutenant  Pickering  Dodge  Allen  was  below  in 
the  engineers'  room,  giving  some  orders  in  regard  to  the 
boat,  one  of  the  sailors  hauled  down  the  American  flag.  On 
coming  up  he  looked  for  the  flag,  but  it  was  down.  Again 
raising  it  to  the  topmast,  the  lieutenant  said :  "  There,  let  that 
flag  float  where  it  is,  so  long  as  one  man  remains  on  board 
the  Diana!"  After  this  there  seemed  to  be  a  mutinous 
spirit  prevailing  among  the  sailors,  who  refused  to  obey 
Lieutenant  Allen,  as  he  was  not  a  naval  officer.  Finding  it 
impossible  to  have  the  guns  loaded,  and  insubordination 
exhibited,  he  was  reluctantly  compelled  to  order  the  hoisting 
of  the  white  flag. 

Lieutenant  Allen  is  praised  by  all  on  board,  and  the  best 
evidence  of  his  bravery  is  a  sight  of  his  uniform,  which  is 
completely  riddled  and  hanging  in  shreds.  At  one  time 
during  the  engagement  the  lieutenant  was  obliged  to  go 
below,  and  when  passing  through  the  cabin  three  solid  shots 
came  tearing  through,  scattering  a  perfect  shower  of  splin- 
ters. Three  round  shot  passed  completely  through  the 
pilot  house. 

The  moment  the  white  flag  was  raised,  the  rebels  steamed 
down  their  two  gunboats,  the  Era  No.  2 — whose  smoke 
stacks,  singular  to  relate,  are  painted  white— and  the  Hart. 
The  Texans  were  not  long  in  boarding  the  Diana,  and  they 


THE    DIANA    DISASTER.  103 

were  no  sooner  on  board  than  they  began  to  rob  the  prison- 
ers of  all  their  private  effects.  The  Texans  robbed  Captain 
Peterson  and  Executive-officer  Hall,  and  all  the  dead,  of 
their  boots  and  shoes. 

Captain  Peterson  had  four  or  five  hundred  dollars  in 
United  States  currency  in  his  pocket,  which  the  rebels  took 
charge  of  for  their  own  private  use.  Captain  Peterson  was 
killed  in  the  pilot  house,  and  was  the  first  man  shot.  A 
ball  penetrated  his  heart.  Executive-officer  Hall  was  shot 
through  the  chest,  and  lived  but  two  hours  after  he  was 
wounded.  Lieutenant  Dolliver  was  killed  instantly,  a  dis- 
charge of  canister  completely  disemboweling  him.  Captain 
Hewitt,  senior  army  officer  on  board,  Company  F,  One 
Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New  York  Volunteers,  was  struck 
on  the  scalp  with  a  piece  of  shell.  The  wound  of  itself 
was  not  dangerous,  but  the  violent  concussion  has  com- 
pletely paralyzed  him  and  he  is  not  expected  to  recover. 
The  Diana  was  plated  with  thin  iron  around  her  boilers,  but 
was  only  protected  against  musketry. 

The  rebels  have  secured  a  valuable  prize,  for  the  Diana 
had  a  fine  armament,  consisting  of  five  guns,  all  mounted 
on  her  bow,  one  thirty  pounder  rifled  pivot,  two  thirty-two 
pounders,  smooth  bore,  and  two  twelve  pounders,  one  rifled 
and  one  smooth  bore.  She  had  on  board  a  large  supply  of 
ammunition. 

The  captain  of  the  Calhoun,  which  lay  at  Brashear  City, 
hearing  the  firing,  started  to  ascertain  the  cause,  when  the 
pilot  ran  her  aground,  where  she  remained  until  two  o'clock 
on  Sunday  morning.  Thirty  tons  of  coal  and  large  quantities 
of  ammunition  were  thrown  overboard  to  lighten  her  off. 


104  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

Had  the  rebels  known  of  the  disaster,  she  also  would  have 
been  lost. 

Lieutenant  Dolliver,  who  was  killed,  was  a  native  of  Cape 
Cod,  Massachusetts. 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  APRIL  16,  1863. 

DEAR  FATHER, — I  arrived  here  yesterday  from  Frank- 
lin, which  place  was  taken  the  day  previous  by  our  forces, 
before  Captain  Jewett,  Lieutenant  Francis  and  myself  could 
be  removed.  I  am  almost  well,  but  not  at  all  strong.  The 
doctors  say  I  have  recovered  very  rapidly  and  that  I  must 
have  a  fine  constitution.  I  expect  to  be  able  to  join  the 
brigade  in  two  weeks,  if  not  sooner.  The  Diana  was  burned 
by  the  rebels;  her  guns  will  all  be  recovered;  her  men  were 
all  captured.  Her  captain  was  Semmes,  a  son  of  the  com- 
mander of  the  Alabama.  The  Queen  of  the  "West  was 
destroyed  by  our  gunboats  in  Grand  Lake.  Her  captain, 
Fuller  (the  same  who  commanded  the  Cotton),  six  other 
officers,  and  over  one  hundred  men  were  captured;  the  rest, 
from  twenty  to  thirty,  were  killed  or  drowned.  Our  land 
forces  have  taken  about  six  hundred  prisoners.  I  received 
the  best  of  treatment  while  a  prisoner.  Have  no  time  to 
write  to-day,  but  will  soon  send  a  long  letter,  with  an 
account  of  my  late  experiences. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  APRIL  21,  1863. 

DEAR  FATHER  AND  MOTHER, — Your  letter  of  April 
tenth  arrived  to-day.  You  will  have  heard  of  my  having 


RESCUED    FROM   THE   REBELS.  105 

been  recaptured  before  this,  as  I  wrote  you  a  few  lines  the 
day  after  arriving  at  Brashear  City.  The  fight  on  the  Diana 
was  a  very  hard  one.  We  were  surrounded  by  a  force  of 
several  times  our  own  number,  consisting  of  six  companies 
of  Texan  rangers  (Waller's  battalion),  two  Arizona  cavalry 
companies,  one  battery  of  field  pieces,  and  two  companies  of 
the  Twenty-Eighth  Louisiana  Infantry.  Our  soldiers  were 
on  the  lower  deck.  When  three  of  the  four  officers  of  the 
boat  were  killed,  many  of  the  sailors  jumped  into  the  hold, 
and  this  example  was  followed  by  many  of  the  soldiers. 
On  the  upper  deck  were  six  officers  all  the  time,  and  at  first 
seven;  five  of  these  were  killed  or  wounded;  and  of  the 
thirty-two  men  there,  fifteen  were  killed  or  wounded;  on  the 
lower  deck  a  few  were  killed  and  several  wounded.  The 
boat  was  fought  nearly  two  hours,  and  when  surrendered 
was  hard  aground  and  the  steam-pipe  cut.  I  was  very  weak 
when  taken,  and  was  left  at  Dr.  Grout's,  in  Pattersonville, 
until  our  forces  landed  on  that  side  of  Berwick  Bay,  when  I 
was  moved  to  Camp  Bisland,  seven  miles  above,  and  after 
three  days  was  sent  to  Franklin,  where  we  had  excellent 
quarters  in  a  new  hospital.  I  was  treated  with  the  greatest 
kindness  all  the  time;  while  at  Camp  Bisland  it  was  difficult 
to  get  enough  to  eat,  but  the  rest  of  the  time  we  had  every 
thing  we  could  expect. 

When  their  army  retreated  from  Franklin  we  were  ordered 
to  move,  on  the  transport  Cornie,  for  New  Iberia.  On  get- 
ting a  few  miles  above  Franklin  it  was  ascertained  that 
General  Grover's  forces  had  possession  of  the  bayou.  One 
of  General  Sibley's  Staif  then  ordered  the  boat  to  return  to 
Franklin.  Captain  Jewett,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth 


106  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

"New  York,  was  the  only  prisoner  on  board  beside  myself, 
and  he  was  unable  to  stand  up,  having  been  shot  in  the 
head  and  one  side  paralyzed.  On  arriving  at  Franklin,  on 
the '  return,  the  confusion  was  very  great,  so  that  I  left  the 
boat.  She  had  on  her  seventy  or  eighty  confederate  wounded 
soldiers  and  our  guard  of  a  corporal  and  three  privates.  I 
went  up  into  the  town;  soon  after  this  three  or  four  of 
Perkins'  cavalry  passed  through ;  I  took  a  revolver  from 
one  of  them  and  let  them  go  on,  they  being  a  mile  or  more 
in  advance  of  our  cavalry.  I  then  returned  to  the  boat, 
where  there  were  no  arms,  she  being  under  the  hospital 
flag,  and  found  the  wounded  men  were  being  removed,  so 
demanded  the  surrender  of  the  boat,  which  was  immediately 
done.  I  was  the  only  person  on  board  armed,  so  of  course 
had  no  trouble.  I  then  took  a  wagon  and  went  to  meet  the 
General,  and  found  our  brigade  two  or  three  miles  in  advance 
of  the  rest  of  the  force.  The  confederate  army  was  then 
demoralized  and  in  full  retreat. 

We  have  taken  about  two  thousand  prisoners,  and  de- 
stroyed the  gunboats  Queen  of  the  West,  Stevens  and 
Diana.  The  Stevens  was  a  very  strong  boat,  and  was  for- 
merly called  the  Hart.  Our  gunboats  destroyed  the  Queen 
of  the  West,  and  they  have  just  taken  the  rebel  fort  at  Bute 
la  Rose,  on  the  Atchafalaya,  with  a  small  force  of  two 
captains,  four  lieutenants  and  sixty  men.  Had  the  original 
plan  been  carried  out  our  success  would  have  been  even 
more  complete.  I  do  not  think  there  will  be  another  fight 
here,  of  consequence,  for  several  weeks,  if  so  soon.  I  arrived 
in  this  city  on  Saturday.  My  wounds  are  healing  rapidly, 
and  I  hope  to  join  the  General  in  eight  or  ten  days.  The 


THE   TECHE    OPERATIONS.  107 

steamer  Marion,  on  board  of  which  vessel  my  clothes  and 
money  were,  has  been  wrecked,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  I  ever 
receive  them,  although  there  seems  to  be  a  chance  that  they 
may  be  saved.  Was  the  money  insured?  I  had  a  small 
shot  pass  through  my  thumb  without  breaking  the  bone; 
the  minnie  ball  came  from  one  side  (we  being  surrounded), 
striking  me  nearly  in  the  middle  of  the  back,  passing  under 
the  skin  a  little  way  into  my  shoulder,  then  under  the  blade, 
then  turned  down  my  arm  for  about  three  inches,  when  it 
came  out  near  the  surface  of  the  skin  and  lodged.  I  will 
send  you  some  New  Orleans  papers  by  this  mail,  and  a  few 

postage  stamps  for  M and  L .     Will  write  again  in 

a  week. 

POSTSCRIPT,  24TH  APRIL. — I  have  lost  the  Era,  with 
the  description  of  General  Banks'  expedition  in  Attakapas, 
so  send  the  Picayune,  which  is  the  secesh  organ  here,  or  as 
much  so  as  it  thinks  it  prudent  to  be.  I  am  improving, 
growing  stronger  every  day,  but  my  arm  will  not  be  strong 
for  a  long  while,  and  probably  never  will  be  as  strong  as 
before.  I  expect  to  join  the  General  next  week.  This  is 
the  anniversary  of  the  surrender  of  the  city. 

Through  the  New  Orleans  Era  we  were  put  in 
possession  of  important  information  regarding  the 
operations  of  General  Banks  in  the  Teche  country, 
which  is  here  printed  as  copied  at  the  time  by  the 
Boston  Journal : — 

The  latest  news  from  the  front  of  our  army  on  the  Teche 
is  of  the  same  encouraging  character  as  heretofore.  On 


108  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

Friday  night  General  Banks  reached  Yermillionville,  pre- 
vious to  which,  however,  a  sanguinary  and  spirited  fight 
took  place  at  the  crossing  of  Yermillion  Bayou,  a  short  dis- 
tance this  side  of  the  village. 

At  this  place  the  rebels  posted  a  force  of  over  one  thou- 
sand infantry  and  strong  batteries  of  artillery  in  ambush. 
Fire  was  opened  upon  the  advance  of  General  Banks'  army 
from  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy.  The  fight  raged  furi- 
ously for  some  time,  but  resulted  finally,  after  considerable 
loss  on  both  sides,  in  the  giving  way  of  the  rebels  and  the 
crossing  of  our  troops. 

It  was  reported  that  General  Banks  would  undoubtedly 
be  in  Opelousas  soon  with  his  whole  army. 

Accounts  from  that  part  of  the  country  state  that  the  for- 
tifications at  Bute  la  Rose  have  been  reduced  by  our  fleet, 
and  that  the  place  is  in  our  possession.  At  this  place,  as 
will  be  seen  by  the  correspondence  below,  the  rebels  had, 
besides  their  land  batteries,  the  ram  William  H.  Webb. 

Our  correspondent  details  the  operations  as  they  occurred 
after  the  attack  on  the  fortifications  of  Bethel  Place.  After 
the  second  day's  fight  the  intrenchments  were  evacuated, 
leaving  in  our  possession  two  pieces  of  artillery,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  ammunition,  &c. 

As  the  army  advanced,  they  came  up  with  a  force  under 
General  Grover  which  had  been  engaged  in  a  desperate 
fight,  which  is  described.  It  was  in  General  Grover's 
engagement  that  most  of  the  prisoners  were  taken. 

Our  forces  have  captured  over  five  hundred  head  of 
horses,  mules  and  cattle,  which  are  of  incalculable  value 
to  the  captors  at  this  juncture  of  affairs. 


THE   TECHE   OPERATIONS.  109 

This  expedition  of  General  Banks,  up  the  Teche  country, 
so  far  has  proved  to  be  the  most  important  and  productive 
of  satisfactory  results  of  any  that  we  have  had  to  record 
since  he  has  assumed  the  command  of  the  Department  of 
the  Gulf.  Our  army  is  rolling  like  a  ball  of  fire  through 
the  finest  portion  of  Louisiana.  When  the  rebels  are  thor- 
oughly driven  out  of  the  Opelousas  country,  the  backbone  of 
the  rebellion  will  be  very  much  broken  so  far  as  this  State 
is  concerned. 

It  appears  from  the  following  letter  (accompanying 
the  foregoing),  dated  "  In  the  field  above  New  Iberia, 
April  17, 1863,"  that  a  two  days  fight  occurred  at  the 
fortifications  of  Bethel  Place  previous  to  the  events 
narrated.  Of  the  operations  of  these  days  the  Journal 
had  received  no  account.  The  letter  proceeds  : — 

At  half  past  eleven  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  thirteenth 
instant,  Colonel  Kimball,  of  the  Fifty-Third  Massachusetts, 
heard  the  enemy  making  preparations  for  evacuating  his 
intrenchments.  The  moving  of  the  artillery  and  baggage 
wagons,  packing  and  mailing  of  boxes,  and  drivers  cursing 
their  mules  could  be  distinctly  heard  by  the  advanced 
pickets  of  Colonel  Gooding's  brigade.  Colonel  Kimball 
immediately  notified  Colonel  Gooding  of  the  fact,  and  he  in 
turn  sent  word  to  Major-General  Banks. 

No  special  movement  was  made  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy 

until  early  the  next  morning,  when  General  Emory  ordered 

a  portion  of  his  command  to  fire  into  the  breastworks,  to 

make  sure  that  they  were  evacuated.    But  at  this   tima 

10 


110  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

Colonel  Kimball  had  entered  the  works  on  the  right,  and 
immediately  planted  the  national  colors  upon  the  parapet. 

An  advance  of  the  whole  column  now  took  place,  General 
AVeitzel's  division  leading  the  van.  Upon  entering  the 
works,  the  scene  on  every  hand  gave  the  fullest  evidence  of 
bloody  work  the  day  before.  Their  unburied  dead  were 
lying  around  on  all  sides.  Within  an  area  of  fifty  feet  thirty 
horses  lay  dead  on  the  field. 

There  were  found  in  the  rebel  works  one  thirtj'-two- 
pounder  smooth  bore  cannon  and  a  fine  twelve-pounder 
rifled  brass  howitzer.  This  latter  piece,  with  its  caisson, 
was  being  drawn  over  a  bridge  across  a  ditch  to  the  rear  of 
the  works  when  a  solid  shot,  from  one  of  our  thirty -pounder 
Parrotts,  struck  the  bed  of  the  piece  and  threw  it  with  the 
caisson  into  the  ditch  where  it  now  lies. 

Large  stores  of  all  kinds  of  ammunition  and  some  Enfield 
rifles  and  a  few  small  arms  were  found  in  the  works,  having 
been  abandoned  by  the  enemy.  The  remnants  of  a  hasty 
meal  were  found  scattered  around  near  the  cannon.  In  one 
place  the  earthworks  were  torn  up  by  a  bursting  shell,  and 
the  earth  in  many  places  was  very  much  ploughed  up  by 
the  iron  missiles  of  death.  The  wildest  enthusiasm  prevailed 
among  our  troops  as  they  entered  this  rebel  stronghold. 

The  army  marched  on  the  first  day  to  a  point  just  above 
Pattersonville,  where  it  was  learned  that  the  prisoners  taken 
from  the  Diana  had  been  sent  up  to  Franklin. 

At  Pattersonville,  and  for  a  short  distance  beyond  there, 
the  advance  was  annoyed  by  the  rear  guard  of  the  retreating 
enemy,  consisting  of  one  hundred  cavalry  and  three  pieces 
of  artillery.  Our  van  was  frequently  fired  upon,  but  did 


THE   TECIIE    OPERATIONS.  Ill 

not  retreat  out  of  range  until  the  second  day's  march,  when, 
at  one  time  finding  themselves  out  of  sight  of  the  main  body, 
the  men  in  front  fell  back,  or  waited  until  the  whole  force 
came  up,  when  the  march  was  resumed.  The  town  of 
Franklin  was  reached  on  Wednesday.  Before  the  day 
was  out,  over  two  hundred  prisoners  were  brought  in  and 
quartered  in  the  Court  House.  By  the  next  night  the  num- 
ber had  increased  to  over  five  hundred,  including  whole 
companies  who  were  marched  in  at  once.  By  a  singular 
good  fortune,  three  of  the  officers  who  were  taken  on  the 
Diana  were  recaptured  at  this  place. 

When  Jefferson  Davis  first  made  the  proposition  in  the 
State  of  Louisiana  that  every  man  unwilling  to  fight  for 
the  Confederacy  should  leave  the  State,  a  Mr.  Smith  of 
Louisville  had  not  time  enough  to  leave  with  a  light-draft 
steamer  in  his  possession,  and  it  was  confiscated  on  the  Oua- 
chita.  Its  name  was  Cornie.  Since  that  time  it  has  been 
employed  to  transport  rebel  troops  and  army  stores.  For 
the  last  two  months  it  was  constantly  employed  in  carrying 
salt  from  the  mines,  seven  miles  southwest  of  New  Iberia, 
to  the  junction  of  the  Teche  and  Cahawba  bayous.  From 
this  point  the  salt  has  been  transported  to  Alexandria,  and 
by  way  of  lied  River  to  Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson  and  other 
places  occupied  by  the  rebels.  On  the  twelfth  instant,  early 
in  the  morning,  the  Cornie  left  Xew  Iberia  with  a  lot  of 
ammunition  for  the  rebels  at  Camp  Bisland.  Upon  reaching 
that  place  the  boat  was  detained  to  carry  away  the  sick  and 
wounded  in  case  of  any  emergency.  On  the  next  night  she 
received  orders  to  get  up  steam  and  leave  at  once  with  the 
wounded.  Accordingly,  seventy-five  wounded,  some  fatally, 


112  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

and  also  as  many  sick  men,  were  placed  on  board,  and  the 
boat  left  for  the  hospital  at  New  Iberia.  Only  one  surgeon 
was  sent  up  with  the  wounded.  Upon  reaching  Franklin 
orders  were  given  to  burn  and  destroy  all  the  boats.  The 
sick  could  not  be  removed,  and  so  a  hospital  flag  was  raised 
and  an  attempt  made  to  pass  General  Grover's  command. 
After  going  a  mile  and  a  half  above  Franklin  the  Cornie 
met  the  Diana,  and  was  ordered  to  return  to  Franklin,  land 
the  wounded,  and  burn  the  boat.  On  reaching  that  place, 
Lieutenant  Allen,  of  General  Weitzel's  Staff,  a  wounded 
prisoner  from  the  Diana,  stepped  up  to  the  captain  and 
demanded  its  surrender.  "  Take  charge  of  her,  sir,  and  hoist 
your  flag  on  her,"  was  the  only  and  immediate  reply. 

Doctor  Alice,  of  the  Diana,  at  once  secured  the  services 
of  other  Federal  surgeons,  and  the  sick  and  wounded  were 
placed  in  a  hospital  under  his  charge. 

By  this  fortunate  capture,  Lieutenant  Allen,  of  Weitzel's 
Staff',  Captain  Jewett,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Sixtieth  New 
York  Regiment,  and  Lieutenant  Alice,  of  the  Diana,  were 
retaken,  and  immediately  commenced  performing  every 
service  for  the  unfortunate  sufferers. 

On  the  day  the  Cornie  was  captured  the  rebels  burned 
the  Newsbo3r,  a  large  stern-wheeler,  the  Gossamer,  stern- 
wheel,  larger  than  the  Newsboy,  and  the  Era,  Number 
Two,  the  largest  of  all;  the  gunboat  Diana  was  burned  at 
the  same  time;  all  of  them  at  Franklin. 

The  next  day,  at  New  Iberia,  the  Louisa,  the  Derby,  the 
Uncle  Tommy  (side-wheel,  formerly  a  ferry-boat  at  Plaque- 
mine),  the  Blue  Hammock  (side-wheel),  and  the  gunboat 
Hart  were  all  burned.  The  Cricket  was  sunk  at  the 


THE   TECHE    OPERATIONS.  113 

junction  of  the  Teche  and  Cahawba  bayous.  The  gun- 
boat Hart  was  one  of  the  best  and  fastest  gunboats  in 
the  rebel  navy.  She  carried  one  thirty  two  pound  rifled 
cannon  forward,  and  another  like  it  aft,  and  two  small 
smooth-bore  twenty-four  pound  brass  pieces  under  her 
casement.  Her  machinery  and  bulkheads  were  protected 
by  three-inch  railroad  iron,  the  heaviest  kind  in  use.  She 
had  two  splendid  engines  aboard,  of  twenty-inch  cylinder, 
seven  feet  stroke.  There  were  four  double-flue  boilers  on  the 
boat.  She  was  commenced  upon  the  day  after  the  burning 
of  the  Cotton,  but  for  some  reason  had  not  been  finished 
until  recently.  She  now  lies  with  her  ruined  hulk  across 
the  Teche,  above  New  Iberia. 

Large  stores  of  provisions  and  ammunition  were  destroyed 
with  these  boats,  including  some  twenty  thousand  pounds  of 
bacon  and  nearly  a  thousand  cases  of  ammunition. 

We  are  in  possession  of  certain  information  with  reference 
to  the  long  cherished  designs  of  the  enemy.  They  had 
purposed  sending  the  gunboat  Hart  down  the  Teche, 
together  with  the  Picayune,  her  transport.  On  the  Cahawba 
they  were  about  sending  the  Marietta  and  the  B.  L.  Hodge. 
From  the  Red  lliver,  the  Queen  of  the  West,  the  Webb,  the 
W.  Roberts,  the  Grand  Duke  and  the  Roebuck  were  to  come. 
Two  rams,  building  at  Shreveport,  they  were  to  send,  if 
finished, — one  of  them,  half  solid,  built  purposely  for  but- 
ting, was  to  corne  round  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  and 
attack  the  boats  at  New  Orleans.  Those  on  the  Teche  were 
to  come  directly  down  that  bayou  to  BrashearCity.  Those 
on  the  Cahawba  and  the  Red  River  were  to  come  down  the 
Atchafalaya  to  the  same  point,  and,  after  its  capture,  to  go 
10* 


114  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

around  by  the  Balize  and  another  route  to  New  Orleans, 
They  were  to  rally  their  infantry  at  the  same  time  at 
Plaquemine,  and  take  the  railroad  running  from  Brashear 
City.  On  the  thirteenth  it  was  the  enemy's  design  to  retreat 
as  far  as  Alexandria,  about  one  hundred  miles  west  of 
Opelousas,  and  make  a  stand.  Kirby  Smith  was  to  meet 
them  there  with  reinforcements  and  assume  command  of 
them. 

As  the  main  body  of  our  troops  reached  Franklin,  the 
news  of  General  Grover's  recent  operations  was  brought  to 
General  Banks.  General  Grover's  division  was  in  camp  at 
Brashear  City  when  the  remainder  of  the  forces  started  from 
Berwick  City. 

The  division  had  been  ordered  to  remain,  for  the  purpose 
of  constituting  an  expedition  to  attack  the  enemy  in  the 
rear  at  the  same  time  the  main  body  drove  him  from  the 
earthworks  below. 

Early  on  Sunday  morning,  the  twelfth  instant,  the  whole 
division  embarked  on  board  the  gunboats  Calhoun,  Clifton, 
Estrella  and  Arizona,  and  the  transports  St.  Mary,  Laurel 
Hill,  Quinebaug,  Southern  Merchant  and  Segur. 

Proceeding  up  the  bay,  through  Grand  Lake  Pass  and 
Grand  Lake,  by  a  cross  bayou,  they  reached  Irish  Bend,  on 
the  Teche,  a  bend  like  that  of  an  ox  yoke  about  three  miles 
west  of  Franklin. 

The  First  Louisiana  Regiment  was  the  first  to  land.  It 
had  hardly  stepped  ashore  when  an  attack  was  made  upon 
it  by  the  rebels  with  two  pieces  of  artillery  and  two  hundred 
infantry.  Some  were  killed  on  both  sides  during  the  firing 
which  immediately  followed.  The  enemy  were  compelled  to 


THE   TECHE   OPEKATIONS.  115 

fall  back.  Upon  reaching  the  Teche  several  rifle  shots  were 
fired  by  the  rebels.  They  attempted  to  prevent  the  approach 
of  our  troops.  This  attempt  likewise  failed  before  the  sharp 
firing  of  our  men,  and  the  rebels  were  driven  still  further 
back.  Our  men  crossed  the  Teche  and  bivouacked  for  the 
night.  The  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  they  started 
toward  Franklin.  While  marching  along  the  levee  road, 
upon  reaching  a  point  two  miles  from  Franklin,  on  what  is 
called  Irish  Bend,  they  again  met  the  enemy.  There  was  a 
cross  road  meeting  the  main,  and  in  this  the  rebel  artillery 
was  planted,  commanding  all  the  country  about  there. 

As  the  troops  came  up,  to  their  right  was  a  thick  forest 
of  large  trees,  behind  which  the  enemy  was  concealed,  hav- 
ing also  a  wooden  fence  between  them  and  their  opposers. 
Preparations  were  made  at  once  for  a  desperate  attack. 
One  of  their  number, now  a  prisoner,  remarked:  "We  know 
that  we  have  got  to  fight  hard  or  be  taken  prisoners." 

The  Twenty-Fifth  Connecticut  Regiment  was  the  first  to 
engage  the  enemy.  It  occupied  the  centre  of  the  line  of 
battle,  having  the  Twenty-Sixth  Maine  Regiment  on  the 
right  and  the  Thirteenth  Connecticut  Regiment  on  the  left, 
and  supported  by  the  Twelfth  Maine  Regiment. 

It  .was  deployed  as  skirmishers  on  the  left  of  the  road, 
and  thus  marched  until  abreast  of  the  woods,  and  then, 
while  under  a  sharp  fire  from  the  enemy,  the  line  gradually 
swung  round  until  it  faced  the  woods,  letting  the  enemy  get 
to  their  rear.  This  accomplished,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
capture  our  artillery,  without  success,  although  the  regi- 
ment gradually  fell  back  until  it  received  support  from  the 
Ninety-First  New  York. 


116  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

The  Twenty-Fifth  Connecticut  Regiment  was  ordered  into 
action  on  the  left  of  the  line,  and  in  the  advance.  They  met 
the  enemy  awaiting  their  approach  in  a  piece  of  woods, 
where  their  artillery  was  supported  by  a  strong  force  of 
infantry  and  cavalry.  When  a  charge  was  ordered,  to  force 
the  rebels  from  their  position  and  to  take  their  artillery,  the 
Thirteenth  had  to  charge  through  a  ploughed  field  and  over 
two  fences.  Notwithstanding  these  obstacles  this  regiment 
succeeded  in  capturing  two  caissons,  six  horses,  two  swords 
and  a  splendid  flag  from  the  enemy.  The  flag  was  of  fine 
silk,  six  feet  in  length,  bordered  with  rich  silver  tinsel,  and 
bore  upon  it  the  inscription,  "  The  Ladies  of  Franklin  to  the 
St.  Mary's  Cannoneers." 

Soon  after  the  charge  of  the  Thirteenth  the  enemy  fell 
back  defeated.  The  force  opposed  to  us  was  not  large,  but 
had  the  advantage  of  position  and  of  making  a  surprise. 
The  total  force  of  the  rebels,  both  here  and  at  the  batteries 
below,  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand  men.  Our  loss  was 
considerable,  and  that  of  the  enemy  must  have  corresponded 
with  ours.  Sibley's  brigade  was  included  in  this  number, — 
two  regiments  of  Texas  cavalry,  Captain  Sims'  battery 
and  the  Valverde  and  Pelican  batteries.  The  whole  force 
was  under  the  command  of  General  Dick  Taylor,  son  of  the 
late  Zachary  Taylor.  At  this  moment  the  whole  force  is 
retreating  from  our  troops,  demoralized  and  hopeless  of 
their  cause. 

By  the  time  our  troops  had  arrived  at  New  Iberia,  nearly 
five  hundred  and  sixty  horses,  mules  and  beef  cattle  had 
been  collected,  and  were  placed  in  kraals  along  the  wayside. 
Their  numbers  were  so  rapidly  augmented,  by  the  constant 


THE   TECHE    OPERATIONS.  117 

seizures  from  the  plantations  bordering  the  road,  that  it 
became  necessary  to  establish  additional  places  for  their 
safe  keeping.  The  mules  were  found  very  useful  to  the 
regimental  surgeons  in  the  transportation  of  the  sick. 
Some  fine  blooded  horses  were  made  to  replace  the  more 
jaded  animals  bestrode  by  officers. 

Seven  miles  west  of  New  Iberia,  and  near  Vermilion 
Bay,  in  the  middle  of  a  mud  lake,  thick  grown  with  flag 
and  cane,  rises  a  ledge  of  solid  rock,  the  surface  and  depth 
of  which  have  not  been  discovered.  From  this  mine  thou- 
sands of  dollars  worth  of  the  best  of  salt  has  been  daily 
sent  away  for  the  use  of  the  rebel  army.  Negroes  were 
employed  to  blast  and  break  it  up,  some  being  ground  at 
the  mine.  It  is  reported  that  the  rebels  paid  four  and  a 
half  cents  per  pound  for  what  they  took  away.  When 
our  troops  reached  Iberia,  a  regiment  was  sent  up  to  take 
possession  and  destroy  the  tools  and  machinery  there. 

When  our  gallant  men  are  facing  death  upon  the  field, 
risking  their  lives  at  every  moment,  it  is  gratifying  to 
know  that  skilful  hands  are  ready  to  bind  up  their  wounds 
and  render  every  service  to  comfort  the  bed  of  pain. 
During  the  engagements  of  Sunday  and  Monday,  Dr. 
D.  L.  Rogers,  acting  medical  director  of  the  depart- 
ment, labored  hard  to  provide  every  possible  convenience 
for  the  wounded,  establishing  hospitals,  and  keeping  an 
ambulance  corps  in  constant  readiness  to  convey  the 
wounded  from  the  field. 

For  the  time  two  hospitals  were  established,  one  at  Bca- 
shear  City  and  one  at  New  Iberia,  whence  the  wounded 
will  be  conveyed  to  New  Orleans  at  the  first  opportunity. 


118  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

A  hospital  was  established  at  Franklin,  after  the  return  of 
the  Cornie,  and  filled  with  the  rebel  sick  and  wounded.  Dr. 
Rogers  left  it  in  charge  of  Dr.  Alice,  formerly  surgeon  of 
the  Diana.  Afterward,  the  very  wise  plan  was  adopted 
of  paroling  the  wounded  and  giving  them  into  the  hands  of 
their  friends. 

Connected  with  the  advance  of  the  expedition,  nothing 
more  plainly  indicated  the  demoralized  condition  of  the 
rebel  army  than  the  rapid  capture  of  their  disheartened 
soldiers.  During  the  actions  of  Bethel  Place  and  Irish 
Bend,  along  the  route  taken  by  the  defeated,  and  at  Frank- 
lin, New  Iberia  and  other  places  crowds  of  them  have  fallen 
into  our  hands.  Already  nearly  fifteen  hundred  prisoners 
have  been  taken,  including  some  characters  well  known  in 
New  Orleans. 

A  short  distance  below  New  Iberia  our  forces  discovered 
a  foundry  by  the  wayside,  an  examination  of  which  disclosed 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  used  for  casting1  shot  and  shell.  It 
had,  however,  been  abandoned,  with  all  its  machinery,  tools 
and  a  quantity  of  shot  and  shell. 

From  letters  found  in  Captain  Fuller's  possession  it  is 
known  that  the  Webb,  on  the  thirteenth,  was  at  Bute  la 
Rose.  The  Marietta  was  on  the  Red  River,  as  also  the 
transport  Grand  Duke.  It  appears  that  the  rebels  were 
not  informed  of  the  proposed  attack  on  Bethel  Place.  This 
letter  of  General  Taylor  to  Captain  Fuller  was  written  on 
the  twelfth  of  April,  at  the  very  moment  our  forces  were 
before  the  enemy's  works.  It  very  properly  recommends  to 
Captain  Fuller  that  he  postpone  the  attack  upon  Brashear 
City.  So  it  has  come  to  light  that  we  had  delayed  so  long 


THE   TECHE   OPERATIONS.  119 

in  attacking  the  enemy,  that  he  was  bold  enough  to  organize 
an  expedition  against  us. 

Concerning  these  operations,  the  New  Orleans  Pic- 
ayune referred  to  by  Pickering  said : — 

The  severest  blow  to  the  confederates  was  the  destruction 
of  the  ram  Queen  of  the  West  by  the  United  States  naval 
force  in  Grand  Lake,  consisting  of  the  steamers  Arizona, 
Estrella  and  Calhoun,  the  whole  under  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant Commander  A.  P.  Cooke,  United  States  Navy.  It  was 
the  intention  of  the  commander  of  the  Queen  of  the  West  to 
destroy,  if  possible,  the  Federal  fleet  by  ramming  them,  and 
in  this  manner  prevent  the  army  of  General  Banks  recross- 
ing  the  Atchafalaya  to  Brashear  City,  and  cutting  off  their 
supplies;  but  he  was  destined  to  be  mistaken  in  his  calcula- 
tions, for  a  shell  from  one  of  the  Federal  gunboats  burst 
among  a  quantity  of  loose  powder  on  board  of  the  Queen  of 
the  West,  which  caused  a  terrific  explosion,  whereby  her 
machinery  was  disabled  and  the  boat  set  on  fire.  She  was 
abandoned  by  her  officers  and  crew,  and  burnt  until  the 
flames  reached  her  magazine,  which  blew  up,  scattering  the 
fragments  of  this  famous  vessel  in  every  direction.  The 
Queen  of  the  West  was  commanded  by  Captain  Fuller,  well 
known  as  the  late  commander  of  the  Confederate  gunboat 
Cotton.  He  was  injured  by  the  explosion,  and  is  now  a 
prisoner  in  this  city.  The  total  complement  of  officers  and 
men  on  board  the  Queen  of  the  West,  at  the  time  of  her 
going  into  action,  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty;  of  these 
about  ninety  have  been  taken  prisoners,  the  balance  are 


120  PICKEKING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

undoubtedly  killed  or  drowned.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
destruction  of  this  vessel  exercised  an  important  influence 
upon  the  subsequent  movements  of  the  Confederate  army. 
She  was  the  right  arm  of  their  defence,  and  her  destruction 
undoubtedly  caused  a  retreat  of  the  forces  of  General  Taylor 
much  sooner  than  they  would  had  she  succeeded  in  main- 
taining herself  uninjured. 

The  United  States  gunboat  Clifton,  Lieutenant  Crocker 
commanding,  mounting  eight  very  heavy  guns,  played  a 
very  important  part  on  Bayou  Teche,  in  throwing  heavy 
nine-inch  and  thirty-two-pound  shells  into  the  Confederate 
ranks, — she  having  removed  the  obstructions  placed  in  the 
bayou,  or  succeeding  in  passing  around  them,  compelled  the 
destruction  of  the  gunboat  Diana  (recently  captured  from 
the  Federal  forces  near  Patterson ville).  Captain  Semmes, 
commanding  a  Confederate  field  battery,  a  gentleman  well 
known  in  this  community,  was  on  board  the  Diana  when 
her  destruction  became  a  matter  of  necessity.  He  was 
captured,  and  is  now  a  prisoner  in  this  city.  The  Confed- 
erate gunboat  Hart,  or  Stevens,  as  she  has  lately  been 
named,  was  destroyed,  together  with  several  steam  trans- 
ports, to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  United 
States  forces. 

LAKE  CHICOT,  LA.,  MAY  1, 1863. 

DEAR  FATHER  AND  MOTHER, — 

You  will  probably  be  surprised  to  hear  from  me  on  this 
lake.  I  am  in  command  of  this  boat  for  a  few  days,  and 
have  a  section  of  artillery  (two  brass  howitzers)  and  one 


HIS    LATEST   LETTERS.  121 

hundred  sharp-shooters  from  the  Fourth  Massachusetts. 
We  are  to  accompany  Captain  Cooke's  gunboat  fleet  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Red  River,  to  communicate  with  Admiral 
Farragut.  This  boat  is  the  Cornie,  the  one  that  surrendered 
to  me  at  Franklin,  and  is  well  protected  with  cotton.  We 
do  not  expect  much  opposition,  if  any;  the  only  point  where 
there  is  likely  to  be  any  is  at  Semniesport,  near  the  mouth 
of  Red  River.  At  last  dates  they  had  a  light  battery  and 
two  or  three  hundred  infantry  there;  they  have  probably 
left  before  this.  They  would  not  be  able  to  make  much  of  a 
stand  against  the  gunboats  we  have,  should  they  make  the 
attempt  This  boat  is  sent  to  bring  back  the  despatches 
and  take  them  to  General  Banks.  We  hope  to  hear  from 
General  Grant,  above  Red  River. 

Doctor  Benedict  would  not  allow  me  to  join  the  brigade 
for  a  few  days,  so  I  obtained  command  of  this  boat  from 
General  Banks.  I  have  a  good  room,  and  if  the  expedition 
is,  as  I  think  it  will  be,  successful,  shall  enjoy  the  trip.  My 
health  was  never  better,  but  I  am  not  yet  as  strong  as  usual. 
My  money,  by  the  Marion,  has  arrived ;  the  box  is  lost.  The 
two  hundred  you  sent  to  Lieutenant  Bowles,  for  my  use 
when  a  prisoner,  came  also ;  this  I  have,  as  the  money  sent 
me  came  from  the  Quarter-Master's  Department— was  Con- 
federate currency — and  as  I  used  but  a  very  small  part,  it 
was  returned  on  my  release.  I  have  had  to  purchase  cloth- 
ing, as  I  lost  one  entire  suit,  it  being  completely  torn  to 
pieces  by  splinters,  on  the  Diana,  and  I  had  to  cut  up  all 
my  shirts  to  get  them  on,  while  wounded.  About  half  the 
remainder  of  my  underclothing  was  lost  when  I  was  moved 
in  such  haste  from  Pattersonville,  on  the  advance  of  our 
11 


122  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

troops.    I  will  get  new  ones  in  the  city,  as  it  will  take  too 
long  to  replace  them  from  home. 

I  shall  leave  this  at  Bute  la  Rose,  where  we  have  a  regi- 
ment. Was  I  not  very  fortunate  in  getting  away  from  the 
secesh?  I  received  better  treatment  than  their  prisoners 
ordinarily  received  from  us,  and  suffered  but  little  after 
the  first  day  or  .two.  I  hope  we  shall  be  fortunate  enough 
to  catch  some  of  their  transports  on  our  way  up  the  Atcha- 
falaya.  We  are  now  going  into  the  mouth  of  the  river,  so  I 
wish  to  be  on  deck.  I  hope  to  get  back  to  Brashear  in  a 
week  or  ten  days,  but  may  possibly  be  longer  away  and  will 
write  as  soon  as  we  return. 

My  letters  were  very  uninteresting,  and  I  suppose  the 
reason  was  that  you  thought  they  would  have  to  be  sent 
me'  by  flag  of  truce  and  read  by  the  enemy,  as  of  course 
they  would  have  been  if  I  had  remained  a  prisoner  in  their 
hands.  General  Weitzel  is  more  popular  than  ever;  I  am 
very  fortunate  in  being  on  his  Staff.  We  left  Brashear  this 
morning  and  now  are  fifty  miles  above  there,  a  quarter  of 
the  distance  to  the  Red  River.  Good  bye. 

Yours,  affectionately. 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  MAY  8,  1863. 

DEAR  FATHER  AND  MOTHER, — 

You  should  have  received  a  letter  from  me,  written  on 
Chicot  Lake  about  a  week  since.  I  returned  here  in  three 
or  four  days,  going  first  to  Opelousas  and  seeing  the  Gen- 
eral. On  our  way  up,  when  about  forty  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  Red  River,  we  met  the  Arizona  returning,  the 


HIS   LATEST   LETTERS.  123 

having  already  "been  to  the  Admiral.  Captain  Dunham,  of 
General  Banks'  Staff,  came  on  board  the  Cornie,  and  we 
started  immediately  for  the  General.  There  is  small  chance 
of  fighting  at  Alexandria;  it  will  probably  surrender  on  the 
appearance  of  our  forces. 

Lieutenant  Bowles  showed  me  your  letter  to  him.  You 
appear  much  troubled  about  me;  but  the  tidings  of  my 
escape  will  have  reached  you  long  before  this.  My 
wounds  are  healed,  and  I  expect  to  leave  here  for  the 
General  the  day  after  to-morrow.  Was  not  Howard 
D wight's  murder  a  horrible  affair?  His  younger  brother, 
Charles,  goes  home  with  the  body.*  You  will  have  heard 
of  Colonel  Grierson's  splendid  cavalry  raid  through  Missis- 


*  "  Captain  Howard  Dwight,  Assistant  Adjutant-General  to  Brigadier-General 
George  L.  Andrews,  was  murdered  to-day,  under  the  following  circumstances  : 
He  had  passed  a  point  at  which  there  is  a  turn  in  the  Bayou  Boeuf,  when  he  was 
ordered  to  halt,  and  where  his  previous  experience  authorized  him  to  suppose 
that  he  was  in  little  or  no  danger.  The  account  given  by  an  eyewitness  shows 
that  so  far  was  he  from  suspecting  danger,  that  on  being  ordered  to  halt,  instead 
of  putting  spurs  to  his  horse,  which  would  probably  have  insured  his  escape,  he 
deliberately  turned,  and  walked  his  horse  back  to  see  what  it  meant.  On  reaching 
the  end  of  the  bayou  he  found  himself  confronted  by  three  rebel  cavalrymen,  who 
were  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bayou,  at  the  water's  edge ;  immediately  their 
three  rifles  were  brought  to  bear  upon  him.  In  this  position  he  submitted  to  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  and  surrendered  himself  a  prisoner.  One  of  the  rebels  then 
said  '  He's  a  damned  Yankee  ;  let  's  kill  him.'  Captain  Dwight  calmly  replied, 
'  You  must  not  fire ;  I  am  your  prisoner.'  Again  the  rebels  said  to  each  other, 
'  Kill  the  damned  Yankee,'  and  immediately  one  of  them  fired.  The  ball  passed 
through  Captain  Dwight's  brain,  killing  him  instantly.  The  scene  was  witnessed 
by  two  boys,  who  remained  by  the  body  until  the  arrival  of  our  cavalry,  who  were 
but  three  minutes  behind  when  the  event  occurred,  and,  hearing  the  report  of  the 
rifle,  hastened  forward." — (Official  Account.) 


124         PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN. 

sippi.  My  mail  by  the  last  steamer  was  sent  to  the  front, 
so  I  shall  not  get  it  for  several  days.  I  expect  to  see 

W next  week.    It  is  nearly  five  months  since  I  have 

seen  him.  We  are  having  very  fine  weather.  Yesterday 
and  to-day  the  temperature  has  been  as  low  as  at  home, 
very  unusually  cool  for  this  country  in  May.  More  than 
six  hundred  of  the  prisoners  captured  on  the  Teche  have 
taken  the  oath  to  our  government.  About  twelve  thousand 
bales  of  cotton  were  captured  in  the  Teche  country.  The 
papers  have  absurd  stories  of  its  being  two  hundred  thou- 
sand bales.  Near  this  quantity  is  said  to  be  on  the  Ked 
Kiver;  part  of  this  will  unquestionably  be  burned.  All 
things  look  favorably  in  this  department.  For  all  military 
movements  I  must  refer  you  to  the  newspapers. 

I  received  a  hundred  dollars  by  Adams's  Express  day 
before  yesterday.  Do  not  send  the  usual  supply  of  money 
this  month,  as  I  have  enough,  but  send  again  in  June.  If 
you  have  already  done  so,  before  receipt  of  this,  omit  the 
June  remittance.  Good  bye. 

Yours,  affectionately. 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  MAY  26,  1863. 

DEAR  FATHER, — 

It  is  a  long  time  since  I  have  heard  from  you.  Our 
brigade  mails  appear  to  have  been  lost,  as  no  one  has 
had  a  letter  for  four  or  five  mails.  I  left  this  place  two 
or  three  weeks  since,  and  went  to  Alexandria,  where  I 
joined  the  General,  but  I  was  taken  with  the  malarial 
fever,  so  common  in  this  country,  the  day  after  leaving 


HIS    LATEST   LETTERS.  125 

here,  probably  partly  owing  to  my  not  having  been  very 
strong.  I  went  from  Alexandria  to  Semmesport  and  Bayou 
Sarah,  just  north  of  Port  Hudson,  but  was  compelled 
to  return  from  there,  as  I  was  very  weak.  The  doctors 
have  advised  my  going  north  for  a  few  weeks.  I  have  sent 
in  an  application  for  a  short  furlough;  it  is  strongly  endorsed 
by  General  Weitzel  and  our  medical  director,  Dr.  Benedict. 
The  General  is  to  take  it  himself  to  General  Banks,  so  there 
is  scarcely  a  doubt  of  my  getting  it.  I  ought  to  receive  it 
in  a  few  days ;  certainly  in  a  week.  As  I  expect  to  see  you 
soon  I  will  not  write  more,  but  will  in  a  few  days.  I  am 
better;  am  not  much  sick,  but  quite  weak,  and  expect  to  be 
well  before  getting  North.  Good  bye. 

Yours,  affectionately.  p.  D.  A. 


HEAD  QUARTERS  SECOND  BRIGADE,  FIRST  DIVISION,  NINETEENTH  CORPS, 

Semmesport,  La..  May  23, 1863. 
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  KICHARD  B.  IRWIN, 

Assistant  Adjutant-General,— 

SIR, — I  respectfully  ask  leave  of  absence  from  this 
Department  for  sixty  days,  to  enable  me  to  visit  the  North 
to  recover  my  health. 

I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  surgeon's  certificate,  showing 
my  present  inability  to  discharge  my  duties,  and  the  need  I 
have  of  a  change  of  climate. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

PICKERING  D.  ALLEN, 

Lieutenant  and  Aid-de-Camp. 


126  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN". 


HEAD-QUARTERS  SECOND  BRIGADE,  FIRST  DIVISION, 

In  the  Field,  May  23,  1863. 

Lieutenant  P.  D.  Allen  having  applied  to  me  for  a  cer- 
tificate, upon  which  to  ground  an  application  for  leave  of 
absence,  I  certify  that  I  have 'carefully  examined  this  officer 
and  find  that  he  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  on  board 
the  Diana  at  Pattersonville,  La.,  March  28, 1863,  that  he  has 
not  fully  recovered  from  the  eifects  of  his  wound,  and  that 
he  is  now  suffering  from  fever  and  debility  resulting  from 
the  wound  and  subsequent  exposure;  and  in  consequence 
thereof  he  is  unfit  for  duty.  I  further  certify  that  in  my 
opinion  he  will  not  be  fit  for  duty  in  a  less  time  than  sixty 
days  from  this  date,  and  that  a  sea  voyage  will  conduce  to 
his  recovery.  M.  D.  BENEDICT, 

«  Surgeon  Seventy-Fifth  New  York  Volunteers,  and 

Medical  Director  General  Weitzel's  Brigade. 

The  facts  in  this  case  are  so  well  known  that  I  think 
I  only  need  say  that  justice  demands  that  this  deserving 
officer  be  granted  the  favor  he  asks. 

G.  WEITZEL, 

Brigadier-General  United  States  Volunteers. 

Before  Port  Hudson,  May  26, 1863. 

Leave  granted  for  twenty  days,  with  permission  to  apply 
for  an  extension  of  forty. 

By  command  of  MAJOR-GENERAL  BANKS, 

EICHARD  B.  IRWIN, 

Assistant  Adjutant-General. 


LIFE    TERMINATED.  127 


When  Pickering's  letter  came,  we  did  not  from  its 
contents  suppose  that  he  was  much  ill ;  nor  was  he  at 
that  time.  He  was  only  weak,  and  we  anticipated 
that  the  sea  air  would  restore  him  to  his  usual  vigor. 
We  were  expecting  to  hear  of  his  arrival  at  New 
York,  when,  on  the  morning  of  June  thirteenth,  a  let- 
ter from  a  friend  who  went  out  in  the  steamer  to  New 
Orleans  as  fellow  passenger  with  him  was  received. 
The  following  is  part  of  its  contents  : — 

Pickering  partially  recovered  from  his  wound,  and  would 
insist  on  going  to  the  front  in  the  performance  of  his  duty, 
before  he  was  really  strong  enough,  and  the  consequence 
was  an  attack  of  fever,  which  turned  to  typhoid,  and  ter- 
minated his  young  life,  on  Tuesday  evening,  June  second,  at 
Brashear  City.  I  was  not  with  him,  nor  did  I  know  of  his 
danger.  He  was  surrounded  by  kind  friends,  and  was  at 
the  house  of  Captain  Fitch,  who,  with  his  wife  and  Lieuten- 
ant-Commander Cooke  and  Mrs.  Cooke  and  others  were 
devoted  to  him,  night  and  day.  Captain  Fitch  brought  his 
remains  to  this  city,  and  delivered  them  in  my  charge,  and 
you  may  rest  assured  that  I  have  done  all  that  his  friends 
could  have  done  if  present,  and  now  send  them  home  to  those 
who  loved  him  best  on  earth,  in  the  care  of  Lieutenant  John 
G.  Snow  of  Maine,  who  also  has  with  him  the  remains  of 
Captain  J.  B.  Hubbard,  of  the  same  staff,  who  fell  a  few 
days  before  your  son  left  us.  They  were  true  and  devoted 


128  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

friends  in  life.  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying,  as  a  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  my  young  friend,  that  few  have  been  here 
who  have  made  more  sincere  friends,  or  that  have  been 
more  beloved  or  respected  as  a  brave,  noble  and  high  toned 
gentleman.  The  body  is  preserved  in  spirit,  and  looks  so 
natural  that  I  think  but  little  change  will  be  found  to  exist 
when  it  arrives.  May  God  comfort  you  in  your  great  loss. 

In  due  time,  letters  were  received  from  several 
other  friends,  which  supply  additional  particulars 
relative  to  the  closing  days  of  Pickering's  life  : — 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  LA.,  JUNE  3,  1863. 

JOHN  F.  ALLEN,  ESQ., — 

DEAR  SIR, — There  are  times  in  the  life  of  all  men  when 
the  heart  is  too  full  of  grief  to  unburden  itself,  and  when  the 
pen  refuses  its  mission.  But  the  task,  however  painful, 
must  be  performed. 

Your  noble  son,  Pickering  D.  Allen,  whom  we  all  so 
devotedly  loved,  has  gone  to  his  rest.  Softly  and  sweetly  he 
passed  away,  on  the  evening  of  June  second,  at  half  past 
six,  his  bedside  surrounded  by  devoted,  weeping  friends. 
Nothing  was  left  undone  that  fond  hearts  could  do,  and  the 
gentle  hands  of  women  who  love  their  country  and  its 
defenders  smoothed  his  pillow  and  administered  to  his 
wants. 

We  feel  his  loss  here  too  deeply  for  utterance.  He  wound 
himself  about  our  hearts  because  he  was  brave,  noble 
generous,  true. 


LETTERS    OF    FRIENDS.  129 

His  remains  were  sent  to  New  Orleans  this  morning, 
where  they  will  be  carefully  embalmed  and  forwarded  to 
you  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

May  God  in  His  infinite  goodness  give  to  you,  and  the 
loved  ones  who  surround  your  "home  hearth,"  strength 
from  on  high  to  bear  this  chastisement.  Remember  as  you 
mourn,  that  yours  is  but  one  offering  of  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands to  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty, — yours  but  one 
wounded  heart. 

With  sorrow  and  sadness,  I  remain 

Respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

EDWARD  B.  LANSING, 

First  Lieutenant  and  Adjutant  Seventy -Fifth  New  York  State  Volunteers . 

BRASHEAR  CITY,  JUNE  10,  1863. 
MRS.  J.  F.  ALLEN, — 

DEAR  MADAM, — In  this  hour  of  deep  bereavement, 
when  your  affliction  seems  greater  than  you  can  bear,  I 
know  full  well  that  words  of  sympathy  from  those  you 
have  never  known  will  fail  to  give  you  comfort.  And  yet, 
as  everything  pertaining  to  the  loved  and  lost  is  dear,  I 
thought  you  would  be  glad  to  hear  some  particulars  of  your 
noble  son's  last  illness  from  those  who  were  intimately 
associated  with  him  during  the  last  three  weeks  of  his  life. 
To  you  who  knew  him  so  well,  I  need  not  say  that  he 
wound  himself  very  closely  around  our  hearts  during  our 
brief,  but  intimate  acquaintance.  His  high  sense  of  honor, 
his  gentlemanly  bearing  and  kind  heart,  could  not  fail  to 
win  for  him  respect  and  esteem.  It  was  not  my  privilege  to 
form  his  acquaintance  until  he  returned  from  Pattersonville. 


130  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

Since  that  time  he  has  formed  one  of  our  mess -family  at  the 
house  of  Captain  Fitch,  the  provost  marshal  of  this  place, 
and  seemed  like  an  old  friend.  I  have  delayed  writing  this 
letter,  hoping  Mrs.  Cooke,  who  knew  him  so  much  better 
than  any  one  here,  would  have  recovered  sufficiently  from 
her  illness  to  write.  Lieutenant-Commander  Cooke  was 
one  of  your  son's  dearest  friends,  and  his  wife  was  untiring 
in  her  devotion  to  your  son;  she  scarcely  left  his  bedside 
during  his  last  illness,  although  herself  quite  unwell.  Mr. 
Allen  often  said  that  but  for  her  gentle  and  unremitting 
attentions  he  should  be  blue  and  homesick. 

When  Mr.  Allen  returned  from  Pattersonville  he  was 
very  feeble,  but  after  a  few  days  gained  rapidly  during  the 
three  weeks  he  remained  here.  His  anxiety  to  be  with  the 
General,  and  assist  him,  led  him  to  go  to  the  front  before  he 
had  sufficiently  recovered  his  strength.  He  took  cold  on  the 
boat,  going  from  Brashear  to  Alexandria,  and  as  the  army 
were  without  tents  the  General  sent  him  on  board  Commo- 
dore Cooke's  gunboat,  and  the  Commodore  gave  him  his 
state-room  and  procured  good  medical  advice ;  he  had  some 
fever,  but  was  able  to  keep  around.  At  the  expiration  of 
two  weeks  he  returned  with  us  to  Brashear,  and  at  that 
time,  although  he  had  some  fever  every  day,  he  was  able  to 
walk  about  the  house  and  sit  with  us  at  table.  He  was  only 
confined  to  his  bed  six  days ;  he  sank  very  rapidly  from  that 
time,  and  breathed  out  his  life  as  quietly  and  peacefully  as 
if  sinking  tc  sleep, — no  sighj  no  groan.  Dr.  Wilson,  the 
medical  director,  resides  with  us,  and  saw  him  almost 
hourly;  he  had  also  the  counsel  of  several  other  skilful 
physicians.  None  of  them  thought  him  dangerously  ill 


LETTERS    OF    FRIENDS.  131 

until  three  days  before  his  death.  During  that  time  he  was 
delirious  and  did  not  realize  his  situation.  His  disease 
was  not  violent,  but  he  was  so  prostrated  from  his  wound 
that  he  had  not  sufficient  vitality  to  combat  even  a  slight 
fever.  ...  I  am,  very  truly, 

MRS.  J.  B.  VAN  PETTED. 


ORLEANS,  JUNE  19,  1863. 

MRS.  ALLEN, — 

MY  DEAR  MADAM, — Although  you  have  heard  through 
others  of  the  death  of  your  noble  son,  I  feel  that  I  too  must 
write  you,  not  only  to  give  you  more  fully  the  particulars 
of  his  sickness  and  death,  but  to  fulfil  a  promise  I  made  him 
the  day  before  he  died;  it  was  during  a  few  moments  of 
quiet,  after  having  tossed  about  with  pain  and  delirium, 
that  he  said  to  me, "  Will  you  some  day  write  my  mother?  " 
Knowing  him  to  be  too  weak  and  exhausted  to  talk,  and 
that  he  required  rest,  without  questioning  him  what,  I 
promised  to  do  so.  He  expressed  no  other  wish,  and  left 
no  messages  for  you,  though  he  often,  very  often,  spoke  of 
you,  and  was  anxious  to  join  you  all  at  home. 

Mrs.  Allen,  I  am  a  stranger  to  you,  yet  I  knew  your  son 
quite  intimately,  and  was  with  him  constantly  the  last  two 
weeks  of  his  life.  I  nursed  and  cared  for  him  as  tenderly  as 
I  could  have  done  had  he  been  my  brother,  or  my  own 
darling  boy.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  me  to  bathe  his  fevered 
brow,  cool  his  parched  lips,  or  in  any  way  add  to  his 
comfort;  and  deprived,  as  lie  was,  of  your  kind  care,  it  was  a 
consolation  to  him  that  we  could  be  with  him  to  soothe  and 


132  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

ease  his  pain.  He  suffered  nothing  from  want  of  care,  every- 
thing  was  done  for  him  that  could  have  been  done,  every 
wish  was  gratified,  and  every  luxury  a  sick  one  could  enjoy, 
was  procured  for  him.  We  all  loved  him,  and  would  have 
done  anything  for  him.  As  I  watched  beside  him,  I  prayed 
God  to  spare  him  to  you,  to  us,  but  that  could  not  be,  and 
with  all  our  watching,  all  our  care  and  love  for  him,  we 
could  not  stay  the  hand  of  death;  his  work  was  finished,  and 
God  took  him  home. 

For  the  last  five  months  I  saw  him  almost  daily,  except 
during  the  time  he  was  a  prisoner;  being  an  intimate  friend 
of  my  husband,  and  often  with  him  aboard  ship,  I  met  him 
there  frequently,  and  situated  as  we  were  away  from  our 
homes,  in  an  enemy's  country,  during  such  trying  times 
there  was  a  tie  that  drew  us  together  and  made  our  little 
circle  seem  one  family,  and  as  such  we  regarded  each  other. 
Many  were  the  pleasant  gatherings  we  had  at  the  different 
officers'  tents  and  many  were  the  delightful  rides  we  took, 
and  our  little  parties  were  always  happy  ones.  Lieutenant 
Allen's  noble  traits  of  character  and  kind  pleasant  manner 
won  for  him  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him, 
and  now  that  he  is  gone  we  feel  his  loss  deeply,  and  mourn 
for  and  miss  him  much.  He  spent  some  time  with  us  after 
his  return  from  Pattersonville,  and  before  having  entirely 
recovered  the  use  of  his  arm.  Being  anxious  to  take  a  part 
in  the  active  campaign,  he  applied  for  and  was  given  the 
command  of  the  "  Cornie,"  the  little  boat  he  captured.  He 
was  to  join  my  husband's  fleet  and  communicate  with 
Admiral  Farragut.  Before  he  reached  the  gunboats  the 
communication  had  been  established,  and  as  there  was 


LETTERS    OF   FRIENDS.  133 

nothing  more  he  cared  to  do,  he  returned  to  us  at  Brashear, 
where  he  spent  another  week,  and  left  us  the  eleventh  of 
May  to  join  the  General,  who  was  then  at  Alexandria. 
Tuesday  he  met  him,  and  as  they  were  on  the  march,  and 
he  not  feeling  well,  the  General  advised  him  to  remain  with 
my  husband  until  he  should  have  recovered.  His  sickness 
continued,  though  it  seemed  nothing  serious  or  alarming. 
The  first  few  days  he  suffered  from  headache,  with  slight 
fever;  was  weak,  and  could  sit  up  but  a  short  time.  The 
severe  loss  of  blood  from  his  wound  prostrated  him  more 
than  he,  or  any  one  realized.  He  was  with  my  husband  a 
week,  and  had  medical  attendance,  and  was  as  comfortable 
as  could  be  under  the  circumstances.  At  the  expiration  of 
that  time  he  went  on  board  one  of  the  transports  to  return 
again  to  Brashear,  where  he  hoped  to  regain  his  health 
sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  return  home.  It  fortunately 
happened  that  we  ladies  were  qn  the  boat.  We  went  out 
on  a  little  excursion,  expecting  to  be  gone  only  two  days; 
the  boat  was  taken  to  transport  troops,  and  we  were  de- 
tained a  week.  As  soon  as  we  saw  your  son  we  advised 
him  to  return  with  us,  but  he  was  so  anxious  to  be  with  the 
General  in  the  attack  on  Port  Hudson,  he  insisted  upon 
joining  him,  in  an  ambulance,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
doctor  recommended  it,  that  he  consented  to  go ;  and  it  was 
then  he  applied  for  leave  of  absence. 

On  the  boat  he  had  a  comfortable  state-room,  which  he 
kept  most  of  the  time,  though  he  took  his  meals  with  us  at 
table.  Wednesday  he  had  high  fever,  with  severe  pain  in 
his  head.  I  bathed  it  for  him,  and  he  slept  some,  and 
rested  quietly  during  the  night.  Thursday  he  was  better, 

12 


134  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

and  sat  with  us  in  the  cabin  an  hour  or  more.  Friday  he 
was  about  the  same,  and  in  the  evening  sat  with  us,  and 
watched  the  bombarding  of  Port  Hudson.  The  excitement 
and  exertion  was  too  much  for  him,  and  he  did  not  rest  as 
well  that  night.  Saturday  we  returned  from  Bayou  Sara  to 
Semmesport,  and  were  obliged  to  leave  the  boat  and  go 
ashore;  there  we  met  the  General,  and  he  took  us  to  head- 
quarters, and  made  us  as  comfortable  as  possible  for  the 
night,  and  Mr.  Allen  rested  well.  Sunday  we  started  for 
Brashear;  he  was  comfortable  during  the  day,  and  rested 
much  of  the  time,  he  seemed  to  require  so  much  sleep.  We 
arrived  home  about  midnight  and  returned  to  the  house,  but 
he  remained  on  the  boat  until  morning,  when  he  joined  us; 
he  appeared  no  worse,  and  we  hoped  he  would  soon  be 
entirely  recovered.  His  fever  used  to  come  on  about  nine 
in  the  morning,  and  seldom  left  him  before  five  in  the  after- 
noon. During  that  time  he  sat  up  but  little,  and  suffered 
with  pain  in  his  head  more  or  less;  but  bathing  with  ice 
water  or  cologne  relieved  him,  and  he  would  quietly  sleep. 
Tuesday  he  was  about  the  same,  and  wrote  a  short  letter 
home  in  the  afternoon,  and  it  quite  fatigued  him.  "Wednes- 
day he  was  not  as  well,  and,  for  the  first  time,  laid  down  on 
the  bed,  and  kept  his  room  nearly  the  whole  day.  He  had 
no  more  fever,  but  greater  pain,  and  his  strength  seemed 
failing.  I  sat  beside  him  during  the  day,  and  fanned  him 
while  he  slept,  but  his  rest  was  not  quiet,  and  did  not  seem 
to  refresh  him.  In  the  evening,  after  Joe  (his  servant)  had 
carefully  bathed  and  rubbed  him,  he  felt  better,  and  slept 
well  during  the  night.  Thursday,  he  was  too  sick  and  weak 
tbo  be  dressed,  and  kept  his  bed  all  day.  I  was  with  him 


LETTERS    OF    FRIENDS.  135 

much  of  the  time,  and  he  slept  quietly,  and  his  fever  was  not 
as  high,  but  at  night  he  did  not  rest  well.  Friday,  he  was 
no  worse,  but  he  had  lost  all  relish  for  any  food  we  could 
prepare  for  him,  and  he  took  but  little  nourishment.  During 
the  day  he  rested,  and  in  the  evening  sent  for  one  of  the 
Colonels  to  come  see  him.  All  through  his  sickness  his 
mind  was  with  the  army,  and  he  was  so  interested  in  every 
movement.  There  was  one  point,  near  Brashear,  that  he 
did  not  think  properly  guarded,  and  he  wished  to  commu- 
nicate it  to  the  Colonel.  He  talked  with  him  but  a  short 
time,  yet  it  excited  him  so  much  he  did  not  rest  as  well 
that  night.  Saturday,  we  saw  no  change  in  him,  and  he 
appeared  no  worse,  but  in  the  afternoon  became  delirious, 
and  continued  so  during  the  night,  and  was  restless  and 
could  not  sleep.  Sunday  morning,  when  I  went  in  his 
room,  he  said  to  me,  being  conscious,  "I  have  had  such  a 
terrible  night," — he  begged  me  to  sit  down  beside  him  and 
soothe  him  to  sleep.  I  did  so,  and  in  a  few  moments  he 
was  sleeping  as  sweetly  and  quietly  as  possible.  I  remained 
with  him  all  day,  and  he  rested  much  of  the  time,  but  was 
delirious.  At  night  he  slept  well.  Monday,  his  delirium 
continued,  yet  his  symptoms  were  more  favorable,  but 
during  the  night  he  grew  worse,  and  Tuesday  morning 
there  was  a  great  change  in  him;  it  shocked  and  pained 
me  to  see  him  so  sicfe,  but  I  had  no  thought  of  death.  All 
the  morning  he  was  unconscious,  seemed  stupid,  and  did  not 
speak  with  us  at  all.  At  noon  he  appeared  to  be  failing, 
and  it  was  then,  for  the  first  time,  I  felt  he  could  not  live. 
It  was  a  sad,  SAD  thought  to  me,  and  it  seemed  it  must  not 
be.  From  that  time  he  failed  as  rapidly  as  possible.  I  did 


136  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

not  for  a  moment  leave  him,  but  sat  beside  him,  with  his 
hand  in  mine,  until  the  last  throbbing  of  the  pulse  told  me 
all  was  over.  He  died  so  quietly,  so  peacefully,  it  seemed 
to  me  he  must  be  sleeping.  He  did  not,  nor  did  w?e,  realize 
that  he  was  so  ill.  He  «ever  complained  or  murmured, 
but  was  hopeful  and  patient,  gentle  and  kind,  and  during 
his  sickness  never  once  forgot  his  "Thank  you"  for  any 
attention  paid  him.  .  .  .  Yours,  respectfully, 

R.  COOKE. 


DONALDSONVILLE,  LA.,  JULY   14,  1863. 

J.  F.  ALLEN,  ESQ.,  SALEM,  MASS.,  — 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  little  dreamt  that  I  would  be  com- 
pelled, in  my  second  written  interview  with  you,  to  treat  on 
such  a  sad  and  painful  subject  as  is  now  before  you.  It  was 
my  duty  to  announce  to  you  his  death;  I  could  not  do  it. 
Pickering  was  sick  when  I  left  him  at  Semmesport.  He 
was  so  sick  that  I  insisted  upon  it  that  he  should  apply  for 
a  furlough.  I  procured  it  for  him  immediately  after  arriving 
at  head-quarters  near  Port  Hudson,  but  it  did  not  reach  him 
at  Brashear  City  until  within  two  days  of  his  death.  I, 
engaged  in  the  stirring  events  around  Port  Hudson,  fancied 
Pickering  on  his  way  home,  and  pictured  to  myself  the  great 
pleasures  he  would  enjoy  after  regaining  his  health,  and 
felicitated  him  mentally  upon  them,  because  I  knew  he 
deserved  a  respite. 

A  few  mornings  after  his  death,  I  received  the  news, 
whilst  at  my  breakfast  in  the  woods.  I  could  not  believe  it 
at  first,  and  even  now  cannot  realize  it,  for  he  was  as  a 


LETTERS    OF    FRIENDS.  137 

brother.  He  and  I  were  of  the  same  age.  I  could  not  be 
associated  with  him  long,  and  every  day  see  his  excellent 
virtues  developed,  without  falling  in  love  with  them.  So 
perfectly  innocent  and  childlike  in  his  manner,  so  brave, 
energetic,  high  toned  and  intelligent.  He  was  the  pet  and 
pride  of  the  brigade.  Often  he  has  sat  on  my  bed,  after  I 
had  retired,  asked  me  for  information  and  instruction  in 
military  affairs,  begging  me  to  let  him  perform  some  haz- 
ardous deed,  and  both  of  us  confiding  to  each  other  our 
secrets,  our  history  and  experiences.  I  never  went  any- 
where on  any  duty,  or  for  pastime  and  pleasure,  that 
Pickering  was  not  by  my  side. 

He  was  admired  by  all  the  people,  whether  secessionists 
or  not,  wherever  we  went.  It  was  so  fitting,  since  fate  had 
ordained  their  death,  that  his  body  and  that  of  John  B. 
Hubbard,  our  mutual  brother,  went  North  together  on  the 
same  vessel.  In  these  two  young  men  the  country  has- 
suffered  a  great  loss;  I  have  suffered  an  irreparable  one. 
If  my  life  is  spared  I  will  verbally  say  more  to  you  and 
yours.  For  the  present,  let  us  all  console  ourselves  with 
the  knowledge  that  although  he  is  gone  in  body,  his  virtues 
will  forever  live  among  us. 

Your  associate  in  grief,  G.  WEITZEL, 

Brigadier-General  United  States  Volunteers. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  NOVEMBER  26, 1863. 

MY  DEAR  MADAM, — 

...  I  became  acquainted  with  your  son  in  September,. 
1862,  as  soon  as  General  Weitzel  received  his  brigade,  and 
12* 


138  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

on  the  Lafourche  campaign  it  chanced  that  we  spent  nearly 
one  whole  night  together  in  the  saddle.  He  was  generally 
sent  by  General  Weitzel  on  reconnoissances,  and  my  regi- 
ment being  a  favorite  one  with  the  General  and  Staff, 
Allen  and  I  often  found  ^ourselves  on  duty  together.  He 
was  always  cool  and  brave  on  dangerous  duty,  and  was  a 
very  attractive  companion.  During  the  manoeuvring  which 
preceded  General  Banks'  summer  campaign,  he  was  almost 
constantly  in  presence  of  the  enemy  in  the  Teche  country, 
engaged  on  scouting  and  reconnoitring  duty,  and  many 
were  the  plans  he  and  I  laid  together  for  surprising  or 
attacking  the  enemy's  outposts.  Other  plans  and  older 
heads  prevented  our  attempting  some  of  them,  tut  some 
were  successful.  During  the  month  of  February,  especially, 
we  were  daily  sailing  up  the  lakes  and  bayous  from  Ber- 
wick's Bay,  or  galloping  about  the  island  on  which  Brashear 
City  stands,  with  the  ladies  of  our  little  circle. 

On  Sunday,  February  twenty^^we  went  up  the  Atcha- 
falaya,  over  the  spot  where  he  afterwards  was  wounded 
and  captured.  It  was  then  considered  very  hazardous,  but 
we  understood  our  orders  to  require  us  to  go  through. 
The  next  attempt  to  pass  this  place  was  not  required  by  the 
orders  of  General  Weitzel,  was  made  against  Allen's  earnest 
remonstrance,  and  resulted  in  the  sad  disaster  of  the  capture 
of  the  Diana,  and  the  shortening  of  the  life  of  our  friend. 
I  next  saw  him  at  Franklin,  where  he  had  just  raised  the 
good  old  flag  on  the  steamer  Cornie,  and  my  men  gave  him 
three  warm  cheers  as  he  rode  along  the  line.  May  third  we 
went  down  from  Opelousas  to  Brashear  together,  and  met 
quite  often  until  the  twenty-fourth  May,  when  I  bade  him 


LETTERS    OF    FRIENDS.  139 

good-by  for  the  last  time  as  he  started  for  home,  and  I  for 
the  assault  of  Port  Hudson.  His  application  for  leave  of 
absence  was  in  my  handwriting,  but  was  a  matter  of  com- 
mon interest  to  us  all,  and  we  hoped  in  a  few  days  to  hear 
of  him  well  out  of  the  worry  of  war,  and  on  his  way  to  the 
bracing  air  of  the  North.  You  know  the  rest  from  those 
who  have  told  it  to  me,  and  who  do  not  weary  of  talking  of 
our  friend.  Respectfully,  your  friend, 

W.  BABCOCK, 

Lieutenant-Colonel  United  States  Volunteers. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  DECEMBER  2,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  MRS.  ALLEN, — 

...  I  have  often  wished  to  write  you  and  tell  you  how 
much  I  admired  and  respected  your  son,  and  with  what  deep 
grief  I  watched  the  closing  of  his  dear  life.  I  have  seldom 
known  one  who,  on  an  intimate  and  continued  acquaintance, 
disclosed  such  fine  and  rare  qualities  of  character. 

On  his  return  to  us,  after  having  been  a  prisoner,  he  struck 
us  all  as  being  greatly  changed.  We  thought  it — and  it 
probably  was — attributable  to  the  terrible  trial  he  passed 
through  on  the  Diana.  He  appeared  to  us  unusually  serious, 
thoughtful  and  earnest  from  that  time  till  his  death. 

Often  in  talking,  though  he  had  no  thought  of  the  near 
approach  of  death  to  himself,  he  said,  "  I  am  almost  a  fatal- 
ist; I  believe  when  a  man's  time  comes  to  die,  he  will  die, 
whether  it  be  on  the  battle  field  or  elsewhere." 

To  us  it  was  an  inscrutable  Providence  that  saved  his 
life  on  the  Diana,  at  last,  to  take  it,  later,  after  suffering 


140  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

wounds  and  sickness.    This  change  in  him,  as  I  think  of 
him  now,  seemed  like  a  maturing  for  Eternity. 

But  he  considered  poor  Hubbard  and  Wrosnowski  fortu- 
nate in  having  so  quick  and  painless  a  death.  He  loved 
Captain  Hubbard  very  deeply,  and  his  death  fell  heavily 
upon  him.  It  never  once  occurred  to  us  or  to  him  that  he 
would  so  quickly,  and  in  a  less  fortunate  way,  follow  his  dear 
friend.  I  thought  God  would  spare  him  ;  he  was  so  useful, 
so  true,  so  brave,  it  did  not  seem  his  work  could  be  done. 

But  he  sank  rapidly  and  unconsciously  into  his  long  rest; 
gentle,  kind,  grateful,  affectionate,  to  the  last.  We  loved 
him;  we  love  his  memory!  God  alone  knows  the  loss  to  us 
of  our  friends  who  have  fallen  in  this  war. 

Mrs.  Van  Petteii  sends  her  regards  to  you,  and  hopes 
some  day  to  meet  you.  My  regards  to  your  husband  and 
your  daughters.  I  know  what  the  loss  of  such  a  brother  is 
and  will  be  to  them.  Yours,  very  sincerely, 

H.  E.  M.  BABCOCK. 


The  paragraphs  which  follow  appeared  in  the 
journals  of  the  day  : — 

I  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Lieutenant  Allen,  of 
General  Weitzel's  Staff.  He  died  at  Brashear  City,  a  few 
days  since,  of  typhoid  fever,  after  a  few  days  illness  only. 
His  body  has  been  brought  to  this  city,  and  will  be  sent 
North  in  a  day  or  two  on  board  the  steamer  Fulton.  The 
body  of  Captain  Hubbard  will  also  go  North  by  the  same 
conveyance.  Lieutenant  Allen  was  from  Salem,  Massachu- 


PARAGRAPHS  FROM  THE  PRESS.       141 

setts,  and  has  been  in  this  department  for  a  long  time. 
He  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner  when  the  steamer 
Diana  was  captured  on  Bayou  Teche,  and  retaken  when 
Franklin  was  occupied  by  our  forces.  At  that  time  he 
alone  compelled  the  surrender  of  the  steamer  Cornie  with 
over  eighty  rebels  on  board.  Lieutenant  Allen  was  well 
known  and  highly  esteemed,  and  his  loss  will  be  deeply 
regretted  by  all  who  were  acquainted  with  him.  To  Gen- 
eral Weitzel  his  loss  will  be  a  great  blow,  for  he  was  one  of 
the  most  efficient  officers  on  his  staif.  He  has  lost  three 
of  his  staff  officers  within  the  last  ten  days,  and  has,  I  under- 
stand, but  one  left. 

[New  York  Herald's  Correspondent,  New  Orleans,  June  5. 

FUNERAL  OF  CAPTAIN  HUBBARD  AND  LIEUTENANT 
ALLEN. — Funeral  services  over  the  remains  of  Captain 
J.  B.  Hubbard,  Assistant  Adjutant-General,  and  Lieuten- 
ant P.  D.  Allen,  Aid-de-Camp,  of  General  Weitzel's  Staif, 
will  be  held  at  No.  220  Camp  Street,  on  Sunday  morning,  at 
ten  o'clock,  by  Eev.  Mr.  Chubbuck,  Post  Chaplain. 

Lieutenant  Allen  will  be  recollected  in  connection  with  the 
capture  of  the  steamer  Diana  by  the  rebels.  He  afterwards, 
by  his  presence  of  mind,  secured  to  the  Union  Army  the 
capture  of  the  steamer  Cornie,  during  a  time  when  the  offi- 
cers of  that  boat  were  under  the  influence  of  a  panic.  He 
fell  a  victim  to  disease  brought  on  by  unwearied  attention 
to  official  duties. 

Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  are  respectfully  invited 
to  attend  and  to  join  in  the  escort;  as  also  are  the  friends  of 

the  deceased  in  Civil  life.  [New  Orleans  Era,  June  6, 1863. 


142  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

[From  the  Essex  Register,  Salem,  June  15— Editorial  ] 

DEATH  or  LIEUTENANT  ALLEN. — The  sad  news  was 
received  on  Saturday  of  the  death  in  Louisiana  of  Lieutenant 
Pickering  Dodge  Allen,  son  of  John  Fisk  Allen,  Esq.,  of 
this  city. 

This  adds  one  more  to  the  list  of  Northern  young  men 
of  promise  who  have  offered  themselves  up  as  patriotic 
sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  their  country,  and  whose  memories 
should  be  ever  tenderly  cherished.  Being  possessed  of  a 
fortune  which  rendered  him  independent,  young  Allen  had 
visited  nearly  every  part  of  the  world,  and  was  engaged  in 
an  extended  European  tour  when  the  news  of  the  war 
reached  him  in  a  foreign  country.  He  immediately  cut 
short  his  proposed  excursion,  returned  home,  and  with 
his  patriotic  ardor,  unrestrained  by  considerations  of  for- 
tune, home  comforts,  or  social  relations,  enlisted  in  the 
service. 

He  was  commissioned  as  a  Lieutenant  in  the  First  Unat- 
tached Company  of  Cavalry  in  Captain  Read's  Squadron  of 
Mounted  Rifle  Rangers,  and  served  with  that  Corps  in 
Louisiana.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  Senior  Aid-de- 
Camp  on  Brigadier-General  Weitzel's  Staff.  *  His  gallantry 
on  several  occasions  has  been  duly  noted,  and  his  bravery 
on  board  the  gunboat  Diana,  and  in  the  capture  of  the  rebel 
steamer  Cornie,  will  be  well  remembered.  In  the  former  of 
these  encounters  he  was  severely  wounded,  and  probably 
had  not  entirely  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  wound 
when  he  was  seized  with  the  malarial  fever,  of  which  he  died 
at  Brashear  City.  He  was  about  twenty-five  years  old. 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM    THE   PRESS.  143 


[From  the  Salem  Qaz«tte,  June  16— Editorial.] 

The  afflictive  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Lieutenant 
PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN,  of  this  city,  which  was 
received  on  Saturday  last,  not  only  cast  a  gloom  over  a 
very  large  circle  of  personal  and  family  friends,  but  was  felt 
by  the  public  as  a  loss  to  the  country  of  a  brave  soldier  and 
gallant  leader.  Here,  in  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  where 
all  his  home  life  had  been  passed,  his  kind  disposition  and 
amiable  deportment  had  won  the  general  regard,  while  the 
manly  and  heroic  qualities  developed  by  active  service,  in 
the  camp  and  on  the  field  of  battle,  had  given  him  a  place 
in  the  public  respect  which  many  years  of  peaceful  life  and 
successful  money-getting  would  have  failed  to  secure. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  found  him  abroad, 
engaged  in  completing  a  very  extensive  course  of  travel, 
including  the  great  East  India  marts,  to  which  he  had  been 
impelled  perhaps  by  his  commercial  descent.  But  the  spirit 
of  patriotism  was  too  strong  in  him  to  permit  his  contin- 
uance in  any  pursuits  in  which  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the 
country  and  the  institutions  which  he  loved  were  subordi- 
nate to  mere  personal  pleasure,  improvement  or  profit.  He 
hastened  home,  and  at  orice  began  to  look  around  for  the 
best  way  to  make  himself  useful  in  the  public  service.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  commission  of  lieutenant  of  cavalry 
was  offered  him  by  General  Butler,  and  he  at  once  pro- 
ceeded with  energy  and  perseverance  to  fill  up  his  company 
by  enlistments,  and  to  fit  himself  for  the  novel  duties  with 
which  lie  was  charged.  How  well  he  succeeded  has  been 
since  proved  on  more  than  one  occasion  by  the  strain  of 


144  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

extremest  trial.  The  unfortunate  conflict  of  authority 
between  Governor  Andrew  and  General  Butler,  in  which 
the  War  Department  seems  to  have  been  most  in  fault,  led 
to  his  virtual  supersedure  while  in  active  service  at  New 
Orleans,  and  he  came  home  for  a  brief  period, — not,  how- 
ever, to  retire  in  disgust  from  a  service  in  which  he  felt  he 
had  been  ill  used,  but  to  put  himself  in  a  position  in  which 
he  might  honorably  return  to  the  service.  This  was  speedily 
effected,  and  he  returned  to  JSTew  Orleans,  where  he  was 
welcomed  by  the  gallant  General  Weitzel,  and  received  from 
him  the  appointment  of  Aid-de-Camp,  and  in  this  responsible 
position  he  continued,  a  member  of  the  General's  military 
family,  until  the  end  of  his  life. 

We  have  not  the  means  at  hand  to  go  with  particularity 
into  the  details  of  Lieutenant  Allen's  military  services. 
Very  early  in  his  career  he  had  the  honor  of  a  special  official 
mention — in  the  report  of  General  Strong  to  General  But- 
ler of  the  attempt  to  surprise  and  capture  Ponchatoula — for 
"having  rendered  important  service  and  gallantry  during 
action."  The  wound  which  probably  led  to  his  death  was 
received  in  the  defence  of  the  gunboat  Diana,  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  March  last,  in  which  he  displayed  extraordinary 
gallantry  and  daring  courage.  He  had  of  right  no  command 
in  the  boat,  being  a  passenger,  sent  by  General  Weitzel  for 
the  purpose  of  gaining  important  military  information.  The 
commander  of  the  Diana,  disregarding  the  advice  of  Lieu- 
tenant Allen,  got  her  into  a  disadvantageous  position,  where 
he  was  surprised  and  attacked  by  a  superior  force  of  the 
rebels.  After  the  captain  and  all  the  executive  officers  of 
the  boat  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  Lieutenant  Allen  took 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM    THE    PRESS.  145 

command,  but  found  it  impossible  to  get  the  sailors  any 
longer  to  stand  to  the  guns,  and  himself  raised  the  Union 
flag  again  after  they  had  hauled  it  down.  At  last,  however, 
finding  the  insubordination  such  that  it  was  impossible  to 
have  the  guns  loaded,  and  being  severely  wounded,  he  was 
reluctantly  compelled  to  surrender. 

He  was  treated  with  great  kindness  and  attention  by  the 
rebels  of  the  neighborhood  in  which  he  was  captured — in 
consideration,  as  they  said,  of  the  kindness  and  forbearance 
with  which  he  had  treated  them  in  some  flag-of-truce  busi- 
ness which  he  had  previously  had  with  them — and  his 
wounds  were  healing  rapidly,  when  he  had  a  new  expe- 
rience, described  in  the  New  Orleans  Picayune  of  April 
twenty-first,  as  follows: — 

"  When  the  Confederate  forces  commenced  their  retreat, 
several  steamers  started  from  Franklin  to  New  Iberia, 
among  them  the  Cornie,  having  on  board  her  crew  and 
about  seventy  wounded  confederates.  Lieutenant  Allen,  of 
General  WeitzeFs  Staff,  who  was  wounded  and  captured  at 
the  time  the  Diana  was  taken,  was  also  on  board  with  a 
guard,  being  conveyed  to  New  Iberia  as  a  prisoner.  The 
captain  of  the  Cornie  appears  to  have  been  panic  stricken, 
for  he  returned  with  his  boat  to  Franklin,  when  Lieutenant 
-Allen  walked  up  into  the  town.  At  this  time  the  Federal 
advance  of  cavalry  occupied  the  place,  and  Lieutenant  Allen, 
procuring  a  six-shooter  from  one  of  them,  walked  back  on 
board  the  boat,  and  going  up  to  the  captain  presented  the 
pistol  and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  boat,  which  was  at 
once  complied  with.  Thus  a  good  steamer,  with  nearly  one 
hundred  prisoners,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Federal  forces, 

13 


146  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

through  the  coolness  and  determination  of  one  man.  The  con- 
federates neglected  to  parole  Lieutenant  Allen;  they  merely 
put  him  upon  the  limits  of  the  town,  and  he  was  consequently 
recaptured.  He  is  now  in  New  Orleans,  and  his  wound  is 
healing  rapidly,  so  much  so  that  he  will  be  able  to  resume  his 
duties  on  the  staff  in  about  ten  days  or  two  weeks.  He  speaks 
in  high  terms  of  the  kindness  and  consideration  with  which 
he  was  treated  while  in  the  hands  of  the  confederates." 
The  next  we  hear  of  Lieutenant  Allen  is  the  following: — 
"A  letter  dated  at  Chicot  Lake,  Louisiana,  May  first, 
states  that  Lieutenant  Pickering  Dodge  Allen  of  Salem  was 
in  command  of  steamer  Cornie,  with  a  section  of  artillery, 
two  orass  howitzers,  and  one  hundred  sharp-shooters  from 
the  Massachusetts  Fourth  Kegiment,  bound  up  the  Atcha- 
falaya  River  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River  to  communicate  with 
Admiral  Farragut.  The  Cornie,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
a  rebel  steamer  on  which  Lieutenant  Allen  was  a  prisoner, 
and  was  surrendered  to  him  upon  his  demand  when  Gen- 
eral Banks'  expedition  proved  successful  at  Brashear  City. 
Lieutenant  Allen,  who  is  a  cavalry  officer,  was  forbidden  by 
the  surgeon  to  rejoin  his  staff  at  present,  as  his  wounds, 
although  doing  well,  were  not  sufficiently  healed  to  allow  of 
saddle  exercise,  and  so  he  obtained  command  of  the  Cornie, 
one  of  the  vessels  in  Commodore  Cooke's  little  fleet,  which 
passed  through  the  Atchafalaya  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River 
and  brought  down  Admiral  Farragut,  who  was  at  New 
Orleans  at  last  advices.  It  is  not  often  that  a  dragoon 
would  find  himself  at  home  on  shipboard,  but  Lieutenant 
Allen  has  had  considerable  experience  at  sea,  having  visited 
the  East  Indies,  Japan,  the  California  Coast,  and  nearly  all 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM   THE    PRESS.  147 

parts  of  the  world.  His  gallantry  has  been  proved  on 
several  memorable  occasions." 

Subsequently,  about  a  fortnight  ago,  a  letter  was  received 
by  his  father,  stating  that  the  state  of  his  health  was  such, 
that  the  physicians  directed  his  return  home,  for  recovery, 
and  that  he  should  accordingly  return  immediately.  The 
next  intelligence  was  the  afflictive  and  unexpected  news  of 
his  death. 

It  is  probable  that  Lieutenant  Allen  was  in  the  incipient 
stages  of  the  malarial  fever  at  the  time  of  his  writing.  This 
terminated  in  typhoid,  of  which  he  died,  at  Brashear  City, 
where  he  was  surrounded  by  kind  friends,  and  had  every 
attention  and  aid  which  his  situation  required.  His  body 
will  be  brought  to  Salem  for  interment.  His  last  letter  was 
dated  May  twenty-sixth.  His  death  occurred  on  the  second 
of  June. 

[From  the  Essex  Statesman,  Salem,  June  17 — Editorial.] 

We  announce  with  pain  the  death  of  Lieutenant  PICKER- 
ING DODGE  ALLEN  of  Salem. 

Lieutenant  Allen  went  out  with  General  Butler  in  the 
autumn  of  1861,  as  lieutenant  of  a  cavalry  company,  which 
he,  with  much  labor  and  expense,  helped  to  raise.  When 
Governor  Andrew  issued  commissions  to  the  officers  of 
General  Butler's  troops,  the  claims  of  Lieutenant  Allen 
were  overlooked;  a  private  was  appointed  in  his  place;  he 
was  mustered  out  and  returned  to  his  home  last  summer. 
He  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  in  another  company,  and 
though  the  place  was  not  the  one  he  desired,  and  unequal  to 
his  deserts,  still  his  heart  was  in  the  service  and  the  cause, 


148  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

and  after  a  short  visit  with  his  family,  he  returned  to  ]STew 
Orleans  in  August  last.  He  was  soon  detached  from  his 
command,  and  appointed  on  the  staif  of  General  Weitzel, 
and  there  continued  till  his  death.  He  served  with  great 
distinction  in  several  engagements,  was  captured  in  the 
steamer  Diana  and  severely  wounded.  He  had  nearly 
recovered  from  his  wounds,  but  a  fever  followed,  and  by 
the  last  letters  from  him,  May  twenty-sixth,  he  was  to  leave 
for  home  on  a  furlough.  His  family  was  daily  expecting  his 
return,  when  on  Saturday  last  the  sad  and  appalling  news  of 
his  death  reached  them.  A  relapse  of  his  fever  was  too 
much  for  his  weakened  powers,  and  he  died. 

We  have  sent  from  this  city  many  of  our  best  young  men; 
we  have  lost  many  by  battle  and  disease ;  but  we  can  truly 
say  that  we  have  sent  none  whose  future  was  more  full  of 
promise;  we  could  have  lost  none  whose  death  will  be  more 
sincerely  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him,  not  only  as  a 
personal  and  private  affliction,  but  as  a  public  loss. 

We  all  remember  with  what  zeal  and  spirit  he  entered 
upon  his  career. 

Fond  of  adventure,  addicted  to  out-door  and  manly  exer- 
cises, filled  with  an  earnest  wish  to  do  something  for  his 
country,  and  to  respond  to  the  call  that  the  public  peril 
made  upon  her  young  men,  he  was  fitted  by  nature,  by 
habit,  and  by  moral  purpose,  for  a  soldier's  life  in  this  great 
struggle. 

He  was  gentle,  yet  firm  and  manly;  he  was  quiet,  modest 
and  unobtrusive,  yet  in  the  hour  of  danger  he  had  enough 
of  decision  and  self-assertion;  he  was  well-principled  and 
high-toned,  and  amid  the  fierce  excesses  of  a  soldier's  life 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM    THE   PRESS.  149 

he  kept  the  faith  and  honor  of  a  gentleman,  and  has  left  a 
record  without  stain  or  reproach. 

His  circumstances  were  such  that  a  less  decided  nature 
would  have  been  prevented  from  adopting  the  career  to 
which  he  devoted  himself,  and  to  which  he  gave  his  life. 
Born  to  wealth,  surrounded  by  tender  ties  of  friends,  kindred 
and  home,  he  turned  from  a  life  of  comfort,  opulence  and 
inglorious  ease,  to  the  rough  dangers  of  camp  and  battle- 
field; his  manhood  and  his  adventurous  spirit  there  found 
the  arena  and  the  prize  he  coveted. 

There  is  much  in  his  character  and  his  brief  career  to 
admire,  and  as  we  reflect  upon  them  we  find  much  to  console 
and  reconcile.  We  feel  that  his  heroic  qualities  were  not 
sapped  by  fortune,  but  were  strong  and  ready  for  use  in 
trial ;  we  feel  though  he  reached  only  the  threshold  of  life, 
and  fell  exhausted  at  the  open  door,  and  saw  honor  and 
usefulness  within,  still  it  was  not  all  in  vain  he  lived 
and  died. 

He  achieved  much  in  life;  he  has  left  as  much  in  death, 
— the  memory  of  a  brave,  manly  and  true  heart,  which 
we  shall  tenderly  cherish;  the  example  of  a  gallant  and 
generous  sacrifice,  which  the  young  men  of  the  Kepublic 
should  now  and  henceforth  emulate  and  copy. 

The  thunders  of  artillery  and  the  roar  of  distant  battle 
again  rock  the  land  and  sea;  other  heroic  spirits  are  hasten- 
ing to  join  our  cherished  and  beloved  dead.  God  grant  that 
the  lives  they  give  and  the  sharp  grief  that  those  who  love 
them  feel,  may  at  last  find  recompense  and  consolation,  in 
the  restoration  of  our  dear  country  to  order,  unity  and 
peace. 

n» 


150  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

[From  the  Salem  Gazette,  June  23  ] 

No  city  in  our  Commonwealth  has  more  largely  shared 
in  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  terrible  war,  now  devastating 
the  once  fair  portions  of  the  land  and  burdening  the  loyal 
hearts  of  the  nation,  than  Salem;  and  to  the  sacred  cause 
she  has  freely  given  of  her  bravest  and  best.  From  those 
gallent  pioneers,  the  Salem  Zouaves,  in  whose  hearts  the 
first  call  to  arms  awoke  an  echo  ever  rolling  on  with  each 
succeeding  conflict  to  the  present  hour,  when  "our  boys" 
have  stretched  forth  a  ready  hand  to  aid  a  sister  State,  there 
has  been  no  check  to  the  devotion  of  our  young  heroes,  no 
lull  in  the  song  of  Freedom  surging  up  from  patriotic 
hearts; — to  the  "music  of  the  Union"  they  have  marched 
to  glory,  and  they  have  found  it  often  in  the  grave.  The 
debt  of  gratitude  which  all  good  citizens  owe  their  country 
has  been  paid  in  honorable  wounds,  shattered  health  and 
gift  of  precious  life;  and  still,  as  occasion  demands,  they  go, 
taking  with  them  our  farewells  laden  with  blessings,  claim- 
ing hearty  welcome  on  their  return,  or  earning  a  hallowed 
place  in  our  memories. 

And  now  another  soldier  has  fought  his  last  fight, — not 
this  time  on  the  battle  field,  but  as  one  might  yield  at  home 
to  the  universal  conqueror  Death.  Kind  hands  ministered 
to  his  last  needs,  and  we  rejoice  that  this  great  consolation 
was  granted  to  his  friends. 

All  who  have  followed  the  footsteps  of  PICKERING 
DODGE  ALLEN,  through  his  modest,  conscientious  and 
gallant  career,  know  that  he  has  done  his  country  good 
service,  and  feel  that  a  life  ended  in  such  a  cause,  although 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM   THE   PRESS.  151 

cut  short,  is  not  lost.  He  gave  it,  and  when  we  have  so  often 
said  "  God  bless  him "  for  his  promptness  in  action,  for  his 
steadfast  perseverance,  for  his  dauntless  courage,  we  did 
not  know  that  God  would  so  soon  bless  him  in  his  own 
best  way. 

Life's  warfare  for  him  is  over,  and  while  we  conse- 
crate to  his  name  a  wreath  of  undying  laurels,  let  us  not 
repine  because  his  youthful  brow  was  deemed  worthy  of  the 
amaranth  crown  in  the  realms  of  everlasting  peace. 

The  first  %larm  of  war  found  young  Allen  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  an  European  tour,  but  true  to  himself  and 
his  country,  he  obeyed  her  call,  and  sought  and  obtained 
opportunity  for  service  which  he  has  ever  made  honorable 
by  his  conduct. 

He  survived  a  severe  wound  received  in  action  which 
gained  him  high  and  merited  praise,  and  sunk  under  a 
fever  induced  by  too  speedy  return  to  the  duties  he  was 
so  eager  to  fulfil. 

Yet  not  only  as  a  soldier  was  our  young  townsman  worthy 
of  esteem; — a  kind  friend,  affectionate  brother,  devoted  son, 
— modest,  simple,  honest,  straightforward, — developing  many 
sturdy  traits  of  the  good  old  puritan  families  from  which  he 
was  descended, — we  find  a  warrant  in  saying  that  few  young 
men  were  richer  in  well-wishers  and  friends.  His  cordial 
greeting  will  be  listened  for  in  vain  by  those  to  whom  he 
was  eveliwelcome,  and  over  the  circle  of  immediate  friends 
a  shadow  has  fallen  that  will  not  soon  be  dispelled.  To  the 
stricken  household,  to  the  parents  who  have  guided  him 
from  a  fragile  infancy  to  a  manhood  full  of  promise,  the 
bereavement  is  almost  heart-breaking.  That  God  may 


152  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

comfort  them  in  this  great  sorrow  is  the  prayer  of  many  a 
sympathizing  heart.  s. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  City  Council  on  Thursday 
evening,  Thomas  Nichols,  Jr.,  Esq.,  presiding,  in  absence  of 
Mr.  Choate,  Mayor  Wheatland  sent  in  a  message  concerning 
Lieutenant  Allen's  death,  which  was  referred  to  a  joint 
special  committee,  consisting  of  Aldermen  Pickman  and 
Webster,  and  Councilmen  Perry,  White  and  Clark,  who 
reported  resolutions  which  we  print  below.  *Fhe  Mayor's 
letter  was  as  follows: — 

"CITY  OF    SALEM. 

"Mayor's  Office,  June  18,  1863. 
"GENTLEMEN  or  THE  CITY  COUNCIL, — 

"The  remains  of  our  late  fellow  citizen,  Lieutenant 
PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN,  have  been  received  by  his 
friends,  and  the  last  tribute  of  respect  will  be  paid  to  them 
on  Friday  afternoon. 

"His  family  are  very  decided  that  the  funeral  shall  be 
private,  but  at  the  same  time  are  willing  that  all  who  feel  an 
interest  in  him  should  be  present. 

"Lieutenant  Allen  was  a  personal  friend,  one  whom  I 
have  known  for  many  years,  and  I  hardly  dare  to  trust 
myself  to  speak  of  him;  but  I  feel  that  his  heroism  and 
devotion  to  his  country  are  known  to  all  of  us,  and  that  we 
can  cordially  unite  in  saying  that  this  terrible  struggle  has 
taken  very  few  who  will  be  more  sincerely  mourned,  or  who 
have  left  a  brighter  example  to  his  country. 

"  No  one  has  left  his  home  from  purer  and  more  patriotic 
motives,  and  no  one  has  borne  himself,  among  the  temp- 


PARAGEAPHS  FROM  THE  PRESS.       153 

tations  and  trials  of  the  camp,  more  like  a  true  gentleman 
and  soldier.7' 

The  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted, 
having  been  previously  spoken  to  by  Mr.  Perry,  who  alluded 
very  handsomely  to  the  high  character  of  Lieutenant  Allen, 
as  a  representative  of  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  our 
city:— 

"  Whereas,  The  painful  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Lieu- 
tenant PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN,  on  the  second  day  of 
June,  1863,  at?  Brashear  City,  in  the  State  of  Louisiana,  in 
the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  while  serving  upon  the  staff' 
of  General  Weitzel,  has  been  officially  communicated  to  us 
by  his  Honor  the  Mayor,  therefore 

"Resolved,  That  in  all  our  losses  in  this  calamitous  war, 
the  city  has  suffered  no  greater  loss.  We  remember  with 
patriotic  pride  the  zeal  with  which  he  entered  upon  the 
service  of  his  country  in  the  day  of  its  peril.  We  recall  his 
gentle,  modest  and  unobtrusive,  yet  firm  and  manly  bearing. 
We  know  that  his  singular  purity  of  character  preserved  to 
him,  amid  the  trying  scenes  of  camp  and  field,  the  faith  and 
honor  of  a  gentleman  and  a  soldier.  We  mourn  his  early 
death,  not  only  as  a  private  affliction,  but  as  a  public  calam- 
ity. The  city  will  cherish  his  memory  as  that  of  a  brave 
and  true  man,  and  his  example  will  remain  for  emulation 
and  praise. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  City  Council  will  attend  his  funeral 
in  a  body. 

"Resolved,  That  the  communication  of  his  Honor  the 
Mayor,  together  with  these  resolutions,  be  entered  at  length 
upon  the  records  of  the  city,  and  copies  of  them  be  sent  to 


154  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

the  parents  of  Lieutenant  Allen,  with  the  deepest  sympathy 
of  the  city  in  this  hour  of  their  bereavement." 

The  funeral  services,  at  the  house  of  J.  Fisk  Allen,  Esq., 
father  of  the  deceased,  were  of  a  private  character,  but  were 
attended  by  a  great  number  of  people.  The  City  Govern- 
ment were  present,  and  the  members  of  the  Salem  Light 
Infantry,  and  numerous  private  and  personal  friends  of  the 
deceased.  The  services  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Briggs. 
The  flags  of  the  city  were  displayed  at  half  mast,  and  the 
bells  tolled,  as  a  token  of  respect  for  the  deceased. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Salem  Light  Infantry,  held  at  their 
armory  on  Friday,  General  George  H.  Devereux  in  the 
chair,  the  following  resolutions  were  passed: — 

"  It  has  pleased  Providence  to  take  from  our  old  corps  yet 
another  victim  of  this  destructive  war.  Lieutenant  Picker- 
ing Dodge  Allen  has  died  from  disease  resulting  from 
wounds  received  in  the  gallant  discharge  of  his  duties 
to  his  country.  Like  many  another  generous  and  brave 
spirit  nurtured  in  our  military  organization,  he  staked 
his  life  upon  the  perils  of  these  troubled  times  in  support 
of  the  free  institutions  and  endangered  interests  of  his 
native  land. 

"  Hastening  home  from  abroad  at  the  first  anticipation  of 
this  momentous  stru*ggle,  he  sought  eagerly  the  opportunity 
to  uphold  the  cause  of  the  violated  Constitution  and  the 
insulted  Flag  of  the  United  States,  and  voluntarily  left  a 
position  of  ease  and  independence,  blest  with  every  social 
advantage,  to  undergo  the  hardships  and  face  the  dangers  of 
warfare. 


PARAGRAPHS    FROM   THE   PRESS.  155 

"Circumstances  offered  him  the  opportunity  to  prove, 
amid  trying  difficulty  and  pressing  danger,  the  earnestness 
of  his  patriotism  and  the  unyielding  energy  of  his  spirit; 
and  in  the  hour  of  emergency,  he  displayed  the  high  quali- 
ties and  the  enduring  courage  that  can  redeem  misfortune 
and  turn  failure  into  victory.  But  the  wounds  received  in 
battle,  and  too  much  neglected  in  his  eagerness  to  resume 
his  duties,  induced  the  fatal  disease  that  has  terminated  his 
young  and  honorable  life.  The  shouts  of  well  won  triumph 
and  the  tears  of  grieving  comrades  mingled  around  his 
distant  death  bed,  and  his  lifeless  form  has  been  transmitted 
to  his  home — all  that  is  now  left  to  his  friends  of  the  young 
and  chivalrous  patriot  soldier. 

"  Therefore  Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  his  parents  and 
family  our  deep  commiseration  for  the  early  loss  of  one, 
in  whom  so  much  of  hope  and  earthly  expectation  was 
treasured  up;  and  we  pray  that  the  cheering  memory  of 
duty  nobly  done,  and  the  purest  consolations  of  Divine 
wisdom  may  support  and  comfort  their  affliction. 

"JResoZverZ,  That  with  a  sad  and  proud  satisfaction,  we 
place  his  name  upon  that  already  long  and  honorable  roll  of 
our  comrades  who  have  sealed  with  their  lives  their  manly 
devotion  to  duty ;  and  given  to  our  corps  a  distinction  and 
preeminence  in  the  annals  of  this  bloody  war,  which  will  be 
cherished  by  all  who  have  ever  worn,  or  shall  wear,  in  after 
times,  the  uniform  of  the  Salem  Light  Infantry.  Peaceful 
be  his  rest  in  his  early,  but  glorious  tomb.  And  may  the 
God  of  battles  shield  from  harm  the  gallant  band  of  our 
surviving  brothers  still  clustered  round  the  banners  of  the 
republic. 


156  PICKERING   DODGE    ALLEN. 

4|| 
"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  entered 

upon  the  record  of  the  corps,  and  that  a  copy  be  transmitted 
to  the  family  of  the  deceased." 

[From  the  Salem  Gazette,  June  30.] 

The  subjoined  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  lamented 
Lieutenant  ALLEN  has  been  forwarded  to  us  for  publica- 
tion by  Captain  S.  Tyler  Bead: — 

"HEAD-QUARTERS  MOUNTED  RIFLE  RANGERS, 
"  HUMPHREY'S  STATION, 

"Parish  St.  James,  La.,  June  10, 1863. 

"GENERAL  ORDERS  No.  15. 

The  Captain  Commanding  announces  with  profound  sad- 
ness the  death  of  First  Lieutenant  Pickering  Dodge  Allen 
of  this  Company,  and  Senior  Aid-de-Camp  to  Brigadier- 
General  Weitzel. 

"  This  event,  which  we,  and  all  who  knew  our  good  and 
brave  Lieutenant,  must  so  deeply  mourn,  occurred  at  Bra- 
shear  City,  Louisiana,  on  the  second  instant.  He  had  fought 
with  such  defiant  bravery  in  the  very  breath  of  the  enemy's 
guns  at  Pattersonville,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  March,  that 
at  last  when  captured,  severely  wounded  in  several  places, 
his  shot-honored  garments  hanging  about  him  in  shreds  and 
the  men  he  had  urged  to  desperate  fight  strewn  around  him, 
even  his  enemies,  in  admiration  of  his  bravery,  heaped  upon 
him  extravagant  praises  and  unaccustomed  courtesies. 

"Afterwards,  while  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  and 
suffering  from  his  wounds,  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
saw  the  glorious  flag  he  had  loved  and  honored  advancing 
at  the  head  of  our  forces  nerved  him  with  strength  to  rise 


PARAGRAPHS  FROM  THE  PRESS.       157 

from  his  couch,  demand  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the 
hospital  steamboat  on  which  he  was  confined,  and  bring  it, 
loaded  with  rebels,  a  trophy  to  the  Federal  forces.  Too 
fatally  xfond  of  his  country's  fame  and  cause,  before  he  had 
wholly  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  wounds  or  was 
again  fit  for  the  hardships  of  the  field,  he  heard  the  sounds 
of  approaching  battle  and  could  not  be  restrained  from 
resuming  his  duties  upon  his  General's  Staff;  sickness  and 
that  sad  event  which  we  deplore  followed. 

"  We  may  not  here  allude  to  his  previous  and  valuable 
services  in  his  country's  cause ;  he  sleeps  proudly  now 
beneath  the  national  emblem  he  has  given  his  life  to  redeem 
from  insult. 

"We  who  knew  him  mourn  the  true  and  noble-hearted 
gentleman,  the  faithful  and  affectionate  friend,  the  pure  and 
devoted  patriot,  the  gallant  and  heroic  soldier!  And  it  is 
ordered  that  the  Company's  colors  and  the  officers'  quarters 
shall  be  trimmed  in  mourning,  that  the  members  of  the 
Company  shall  wear  the  usual  badge  for  thirty  days,  and 
that  a  copy  of  this  order  shall  be  forwarded  to  the  parents 
of  the  deceased  as  a  testimonial  of  our  respect  and  love  for 
the  memory  of  their  lamented  son. 

u  By  order,  S.  TYLER  HEAD, 

"Captain  Commanding  Mounted  Rifle  Rangers, 

"Independent  Massachusetts  Volunteers." 
14 


EXPERIENCE    OPENS    THE     BOOK    OF    LIFE. 


SERMON 


DELIVERED    IN    SALEM,    JUNE    21,    18fK3, 


BY  REV.  G.  W.  BRIGGS,  D.  D. 


SERMON. 


REVELATIONS    XX.,  12. 

"AND  ANOTHER  BOOK  WAS  OPENED,  WHICH  is  THE  BOOK  OF  LIFE." 

I  think  of  no  sentence  which  can  more  fitly  intro- 
duce our  meditations  to-day.  I  think  of  none  which, 
at  the  same  time,  touches  such  profound  spiritual 
truths  and  finds  such  vivid  illustrations  in  the  events 
of  the  hour.  The  writer  is  speaking  of  the  future, 
and  not  of  the  present  world.  He  is  attempting  to 
picture  the  grand  and  awful  scenes  which  presented 
themselves  to  his  imagination  in  his  visions  of  a  spir- 
itual state.  But  the  change  of  worlds  can  neither 
suspend  nor  break  the  laws  of  the  soul.  For  what 
is  the  "  Book  of  Life "?  What  idea  is  that  conse- 
crated phrase  intended  to  convey?  Does  not  the 
"book  of  life''  mean,  the  principle  of  man's  inward 
being,  that  which  he  truly  is  in  his  interior  character 
before  the  sight  of  God?  And  is  not  that  book 
opened  whenever  that  principle  is  brought  out  into 

view  ?     Though  the  text  was  written  concerning  the 
u» 


162         PICKERING  DODGE  ALLEN. 

future,  it  belongs  to  the  present  also.  It  describes 
the  work  both  of  Time  and  of  Eternity.  The  book 
of  life  is  not  kept  closed  and  sealed  until  the  dawn  of 
a  judgment  day.  Though  it  may  not  be  fully  opened 
here,  seal  after  seal  is  unloosed  in  the  events  which 
produce  genuine  revelations  of  character.  Some- 
times it  seems  as  if  few  seals  remained  to  be  broken 
when  the  spirit  passes  on  into  that  higher  world  to 
whose-  glories  the  text  directly  refers.  Let  us  follow 
this  line  of  thought,  first,  in  the  general  reflections 
which  it  suggests,  and  then  into  such  particular  appli- 
cations as  the  time  may  permit. 

"  And  another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book 
of  life."  It  is  the  grand  office  of  experience  to  reveal 
the  moral  secrets  of  the  heart,  to  open  the  book  of  life. 
Everything  that  stirs  the  soul,  indeed,  reveals  a  glimpse 
of  the  inner  life,  even  if  none  of  its  features  are  fully 
unveiled.  Its  pride,  its  passion,  its  selfishness,  or,  its 
humility,  its  heroism,  its  love,  are  constantly  flashing 
into  sight  amidst  the  provocations  and  the  tasks  of  life. 
The  true  tones  of  feeling  break  from  the  heart  when 
the  different  events  of  life  touch  its  various  strings,  I 
had  almost  said  as  surely,  and  oftentimes  as  uncon- 
sciously, as  the  different  notes  of  the  organ  when  you 
touch  its  various  stops  and  keys.  The  book  of  life 
is  partially  opened  every  day.  I  am  entering  into  no 


SERMON    OF    REV.    DR.    BRIGGS.  163 

mere  speculations  now.  I  am  writing  what  you  and  I 
have  felt  ofttimes  in  humiliation,  and  perhaps  in  tears, 
and  sometimes,  I  trust,  in  joy.  What  secrets  of 
weakness,  and  what  secrets  of  strength,  experience 
opens  !  What  secrets  of  weakness,  certainly !  Who 
has  never  found  that  a  new  or  varied  temptation,  a 
provocation  unmet  before,  has  shaken,  if  not  over- 
whelmed his  fancied  heroism  of  purpose  ?  The 
serenity  in  which  you  trusted  yielded  at  the  first 
assault,  and  the  passion  which  you  thought  you  had 
tamed,  or  could  hold  in  check,  breaks  out  again  in 
all  its  wonted  strength.  Somehow  the  old  demon 
comes  back  again  when  you  believed  that  the  cham- 
bers of  the  heart  had  been  swept  and  garnished,  or 
else  some  new  weakness  appears,  which  was  undis- 
covered before,  to  keep  you  still  humble  when  you 
began  to  feel  the  pride  of  spiritual  strength  and 
victory.  When  you  think  you  can  walk  upon  the 
stormy  waves,  like  the  too  confident  Apostle  you 
begin  to  sink,  and  are  compelled  to  cry  for  the  help 
of  the  Master's  hand.  I  know  not  how  any  man 
can  be  a  Pharisee.  He  could  not  be  if  he  read  the 
opening  book  of  life.  Fall  upon  your  knees,  and 
smite  your  breast,  sooner  than  breathe  one  word,  or 
thought  of  spiritual  pride,  as  these  secrets  of  frailty 
come  into  view  to  shame  and  humble  you. 


164  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

But  thanks  be  given,  there  is  another  side  to  the 
picture.  Life  opens  secrets  of  strength  as  well  as  of 
weakness.  Resolution  does  not  always  bend  beneath 
assaults.  Sometimes  it  has  an  invincible  and  ada- 
mantine firmness  that  no  experience  in  life  is  able 
to  shake.  Sometimes  serenity  is  undisturbed,  and 
loving  souls  retain  their  sweetness,  while  the  excite- 
ments of  passion  are  heaving  and  tossing  round  them 
in  perpetual  agitation.  If  any  angel  has  found  a 
home  in  the  spirit,  either  implanted  there  by  the 
love  that  watched  over  and  guided  its  opening  life, 
or  developed  by  the  soul's  earnest  struggles  to  keep  its 
faith  and  honor,  under  difficulties  and  temptations  it  will 
unfold  its  previously  secret  and  unsuspected  strength. 
Have  you  never  found  such  an  inward  strength  in  the 
conviction  instilled,  perhaps,  by  a  mother's  lips,  the  sen- 
timent awakened  by  her  counsel  or  her  presence, — a 
strength  that  you  never  claimed  as  your  own  but 
always  gratefully  attributed  to  her,  but  which  kept 
you  as  clean  from  the  sins  against  which  she  specially 
warned  you,  long  after  she  was  laid  in  the  grave,  as 
if  her  loving  arms  were  folded  round  you  still  ?  Have 
you  not  seen  such  an  inward  strength  winning  its  moral 
victories  in  other  souls  ?  Experience  probes  the  heart's 
hidden  places  and  opens  the  books  of  the  spirit's  life  to 
tell  its  secrets  of  shame  or  glory. 


SERMON   OF   REV.    DR.    BRIGG8.  165 

"And  another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book 
of  life."  When  I  follow  out  this  line  of  thought 
the  intensest  experiences  of  life  involve  no  mystery. 
Their  explanation  is  seen  at  a  glance.  They  open 
the  books  of  life  more  fully.  Thev  sound  the  depths 
of  character.  They  expose  the  latent  frailty  which 
nothing  less  would  reveal,  or  they  call  out  the  latent 
strength  which  no  lighter  summons  would  arouse. 
Man  does  not  need  the  merely  superficial  experiences 
which  bring  no  disappointment,  and  can  demand  no 
trust;  which  ask  for  no  self-sacrifice,  and  can  sum- 
mon up  no  heroism.  He  needs  those  which  are  as 
deep  as  the  heart's  capacities  of  love ;  deep  as  the 
possibilities  of  spiritual  frailty,  or  of  spiritual  power. 
They  have  their  compensations.  They  surprise  us 
by  the  displays  of  character  to  which  they  lead. 
Sometimes, "  too  often,  human  nature  sinks  beneath 
its  grandest  tests.  But  now  and  then  it  rises  to  a 
moral  power  that  is  equal  to  the  demand  upon  its 
strength,  and  ascends  to  a  true  spiritual  victory. 
What  are  these  manifestations  of  trust,  and  of  power  ? 
They  are  partial  openings  of  the  book  of  life.  We 
begin  to  read  some  of  the  pages  of  that  wondrous 
book  in  these  grander  revelations  of  character.  Some 
souls  pass  through  the  years  of  present  life,  unknown 
to  others,  unknown  even  to  themselves.  Nothing 


166  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

comes  to  arouse  the  grander  elements  of  their  spiritual 
nature,  and  it  gives  no  sign  of  its  diviner  possibili- 
ties. Not  even  once,  perhaps,  in  all  their  earthly 
history  do  they  have  a  single  hour  of  transfiguration, 
in  which  the  soul  breaks  through  the  features  to 
cover  them  with  light  and  the  inner  man  comes 
out  in  a  heroism,  or  a  self-sacrifice  that  fills  us  with 
admiration,  and  almost  with  reverence.  How  many 
talents  sleep  till  the  angel  of  the  resurrection  shall 
call  them  forth  into  glorious  activity  ?  I  often  think 
of  the  infinite  surprises  that  will  come  to  myriads  of 
souls,  in  the  intenser  life  of  the  future,  when  these 
powers  which  scarcely  budded  here  shall  burst  into 
bloom, — when  those  who  were  chained  below  by 
man's  injustice,  or  the  unfavorable  circumstances  of 
their  present  lot,  shall  see  their  prison  walls  falling 
round  them  and  pass  into  the  liberty  of  the  heavens, 
— when  those  who  grovelled  here  on  earth  as  if  they 
were  only  made  of  the  dust,  quickly  to  return  to  dust 
again,  shall  find  the  spirit  putting  forth  its  wings  to 
soar  up  towards  the  life  of  God.  "  Neither  eye  hath 
seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  conceived"  what  those 
surprises  may  be.  Still,  occasionally,  when  life  is 
deepest,  we  get  glimpses  of  that  unrevealed,  uncom- 
prehended  splendor.  Occasionally  we  see  revelations 
of  glorious  manhood  which  illuminate  the  dark  pages 


SERMON    OF   KEY.    DR.    BRIGGS.  167 

of  human  history,  and  shine  down  through  the  cen- 
turies to  cheer  and  inspire.  Occasionally  the  heavens 
seem  to  open  and  a  still  more  spiritual  baptism  rests 
upon  some  saintly  head.  It  is  the  deep  experiences 
that  open  the  book  of  life.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
they  come.  I  cannot  wonder  at  the  agony  which 
finally  leads  to  the  cry,  "  Thy  will  be  done."  I 
wonder  not  at  the  heavy  cross  which  may  make 
the  soul  its  conqueror  at  last.  The  dark  cloud  of 
sorrow  is  already  fringed  with  light.  I  see  the 
meaning  of  the  words,  "  Whom  he  loveth,  he  chas- 
teneth."  The  still  darker  problem  of  moral  evil  is 
not  wholly  mystery.  Though  itself  unsolved,  some 
light  is  cast  upon  it  now.  Life  is  a  battle  ;  truth 
brings  not  peace,  but  a  sword ;  every  step  towards 
the  world's  progress  and  redemption  is  purchased  by 
sacrifices  of  blood,  because  in  these  tremendous  moral 
struggles  the  book  of  life  may  be  opened,  and  all  that 
is  great  in  heroism,  all  that  is  sublime  in  love  and 
trust,  all  that  is  glorious  in  self-sacrifice  may  be  writ- 
ten upon  its  pages. 

And  shall  I  turn  from  this  abstract  and  general 
statement  to  its  illustrations  in  the  life  of  to-day  ? 
How  nobly  character  has  been  developed  amidst 
these  terrible  convulsions !  I  do  not  forget  for  an 
instant  the  manifestations  of  moral  weakness,  the 


168  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

disastrous  failures  which  sadden  us,  the  selfishness 
which  never  rises  above  its  own  base  and  personal 
ends  when  all  that  is  sacred  and  dear  in  the  thought 
of  country,  and  law,  and  liberty  is  pleading  with  its 
heart  of  stone,  and  which  is  as  unmoved  by  any  true 
enthusiasm  for  interests  so  divine  as  was  the  heart  of 
Judas  by  love  for  his  Lord.  Like  the  traitor  himself 
it  must  go  to  its  own  place,  and  I  put  it  out  of  sight 
to-day.  Thanks  for  the  true  and  brave,  those  whose 
bravery  and  truth  can  almost  make  us  forget  these 
shameful  lives.  How  many  youths  whose  moral 
power  we  could  not  have  realized,  and  perhaps  did 
not  suspect,  have  suddenly  developed  into  the  noblest 
manhood,  with  a  loyalty  to  liberty  exalted  into  a  soul 
of  self-sacrifice,  and  the  love  of  country  kindled  into 
a  quenchless  flame  ?  When  has  the  book  of  life  been 
more  truly  opened  to  reveal  the  deeps  of  character  ? 
When  have  nobler  things  been  written  upon  its 
pages  ?  We  almost  imagine  amidst  such  abundant 
manifestations  of  heroism  and  devotion  that  they  are 
the  positive  creations  of  the  hour,  as  if  some  new 
inspiration  had  been  poured  upon  humanity  to-day. 
A  new  inspiration  has  indeed  come  ;  but  it  has  created 
nothing.  It  has  simply  opened  the  book  of  its  inte- 
rior life,  to  show  us  what  it  was  made  to  be  when  it 
yields  itself  without  reserve  to  a  sacred  truth  or  a 


SERMON    OF   REV.    DR.    BRIGGS.  169 

noble  sentiment.  Heroism,  fidelity,  devotion,  are  as 
natural  to  such  self-sacrificing  natures  as  cowardice 
and  moral  treason  to  self-seeking  souls.  These 
grander  things  are  the  natural  expression  of  this 
nobler,  inward  life.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  these 
beautiful  developments  of  character  are  the  only  com- 
pensations in  this  terrific  war.  Other  issues  are  not 
yet  unveiled.  I  leave  those  in  faith  to  the  guidance 
of  the  overruling  Hand.  But  here  are  compensations 
which  come  while  other,  and  grander  ones  if  that  be 
possible,  are  still  unseen, — compensations  which  out- 
weigh suffering,  yes,  almost  outweigh  grief  itself. 
We  should  not  have  known  these  heroes  except 
through  the  perils  amidst  which  they  nobly  battled, 
and  bravely  fell.  I  gather  up  these  bright  revela- 
tions out  of  the  book  of  their  life.  I  count  the 
names  that  have  become  sacred  now.  Who  that 
felt  rightly  would  deem  any  peril  or  cross  a  burden 
to  himself  if  it  should  imbue  him  with  the  true  soul 
of  sacrifice?  In  our  better  moments  we  say  with 
Paul,  we  would  know  the  fellowship  of  the  Lord's 
sufferings,  and  taste  the  bitterness  of  his  death,  if 
thus,  by  any  means,  we  might  attain  to  a  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  Shall  we  put  our  personal  griefs, 
however  sacred  and  deep,  into  the  balance,  when  we 
remember  these  examples  of  moral  beauty  ?  We  will 

15 


170  PICKERING    DODGE   ALLEN. 

open  our  clinging  arms  to  let  our  beloved  ones  go. 
Tearfully,  yet  bravely,  we  will  bear  a  suffering,  a 
sacrifice,  like  that  from  which  they  did  not  shrink, 
and  which  made  them  what  they  were,  and  what 
they  must  be  in  our  memory  forever. 

And  here  another  thought  presses  upon  the  mind. 
We  have  said-^that  the  deep  things  of  character,  its 
diviner  forces,  are  called  forth  amidst  these  tremen- 
dous experiences.  If  life  open  the  book  of  character, 
death  cannot  close  it.  It  seems  to  open  it  still  more 
widely.  It  is  an  unfailing  and  beautiful  office  of 
death  to  bring  character  up  anew  to  the  mind  and 
heart.  Well  did  Jesus  say  to  the  disciples  that  the 
Spirit  would  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance 
when  he  should  have  gone  away.  It  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  irresistible  working  of  human  nature. 
Then  the  mind  goes  back  to  the  past,  and  the  heart 
gathers  up  and  embalms  its  cherished  and  beautiful 
memories.  And  how  those  memories  throng  upon 
it ;  recollections  of  every  generous  and  characteristic 
deed, — recollections  to  which  we  seldom  turned,  and 
which  had  almost  faded,  but  which  now  come  up, 
fresh  and  vivid,  to  bear  their  testimony.  When  the 
life  is  really  lovely  and  true  we  are  compassed  about 
as  by  a  cloud  of  these  loving  witnesses.  The  heart 
calls  all  things  to  its  remembrance,  and  groups  them 


SEKMON    OF   REV.    DR.    BRIGGS.  171 

together  to  make  the  portrait  complete,  as  the  loving 
painter  touches  each  feature  again  and  yet  again 
with  his  magic  pencil,  until  the  picture  assumes  the 
exact  expression  and  hues  of  life.  Death  cannot 
close  the  book  of  life.  The  features  of  the  spirit  are 
never  so  distinct  as  when  the  veil  of  flesh  is  laid 
aside.  It  sometimes  seems  as  if  the  truest  minis- 
try of  the  loved  begins  when  their  earthly  presence 
ceases.  Then  superficial  foibles  are  forever  blotted 
out,  and  the  nobler  qualities  appear  without  a  cloud. 
Then  the  traits  which  formerly  seemed  so  beautiful 
assume  a  sacredness  unknown  before,  and  the  once 
human  life  fulfils  the  office  of  an  angel.  Perhaps 
the  lips  never  speak  so  eloquently  as  when  they  are 
closed  forever.  Perhaps  no  life  is  ever  truly  known, 
certainly  none  exerts  its  highest  spiritual  power  till  it 
is  ended.  How  true  it  is  in  every  application  of  the 
words  that  those  who  live  can  never  die !  When 
character  is  true  death  is  indeed  abolished,  and  the 
mortal  life  becomes  an  immortal  presence,  to  touch 
the  soul  with  a  tenderer  reverence  and  sway  it  with 
a  diviner  power.  When  the  book  of  life  is  truly 
opened,  life  and  death  alike  conspire  to  illuminate  its 
pages,  and  make  them  radiant  forever. 

I  do  not  forget  the  anguish  and  agony  of  the  hour 
in  words  like  these.     Certainly  I  cannot  forget  them 


172  PICKERING   DODGE   ALLEN. 

when  I  hear  so  often  the  sadly  tolling  bells.  I  see 
the  loved  forms  of  the  dead  coming  back  so  silently 
to  be  laid  by  the  side  of  parents  and  of  kindred.  It 
is  because  the  sacrifices  are  so  priceless  that  I  strive 
to  gather  every  gleam  of  consolation  and  of  hope. 
How  oft  it  seems  as  if  our  most  single-hearted  and 
truest  fell  !  When  the  devotion  is  most  nobly 
proved ;  when  the  young  man  to  whom  life  opened 
with  fairest  promise,  offering  every  charm  to  hold 
him  back,  hears  the  call  of  country  across  the  sea  and 
hastens  to  her  defence ;  when  character  retains  its 
simplicity,  its  integrity,  its  honor  undefiled  amidst 
the  corruptions  of  the  camp,  to  command  a  confidence 
and  love  from  former  strangers  almost  as  tender  and 
deep  as  the  affections  of  home ;  when  the  hopes  of 
kindred  and  of  associates  begin  to  cluster  round  it 
as  if  reserve^  for  marked  and  nobler  service  to  the 
sacred  cause ;  when  the  sacrifice  seems  greatest,  then 
the  call  comes  to  withhold  it  not.  "  Withhold  not 
thy  son,  thine  only  son."  It  is  the  law  of  the  eter- 
nal Providence.  It  was  the  offering  without  spot  or 
blemish  that  was  to  be  placed  upon  the  altars.  It  is 
the  fairest  and  most  priceless  lives  that  seem  oftenest 
laid  down  for  right  and  for  humanity.  Sacrifices 
like  these  have  the  highest  moral  power,  and  do 
most  to  touch  and  quicken  sluggish  and  selfish  souls. 


SERMON    OF    REV.    DR.   BRIGGS.  173 

When  their  work  seems  so  sadly  and  mysteriously 
ended,  it  is  that  they  may  begin  their  nobler  work 
in  the  deep  places  of  human  hearts.  We  gain  some 
partial  solution  of  their  early  fall.  Those  who  have 
the  moral  power  of  character  pass  on  to  exert  an 
inspiration,  which,  though  unseen,  nerves  a  hundred 
hearts  anew,  and  is  mightier,  a  thousand  fold,  than 
any  mortal  strength. 

"  And  another  book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book 
of  life."  Our  text  might  suggest  a  higher  and  more 
spiritual  doctrine,  at  which  we  cannot  even  glance 
to-day.  Let  us  fill  our  minds  with  these  thoughts  of 
hope.  When  the  book  of  life  is  truly  opened,  and 
character  shines  forth  in  its  moral  beauty,  we  have 
a  power  that  cannot  die.  It  neither  dies  in  human 
memory,  nor  in  its  influence  upon  the  world.  Shall 
this  grand  heroism  that  is  covering  the  land  with 
patriot  graves  fail  to  do  its  work?  Should  it  fail 
to-day,  it  would  only  make  them  shrines  to  which 
men  would  turn  in  some  future  time  for  inspiration  ; 
and  the  sacrifice  which  is  unavailing  now  will  pur- 
chase a  redemption  in  the  coming  centuries.  Not 
one  loyal  man  can  live  or  die  in  vain.  The  truths 
which  such  men  serve,  at  the  cost  of  sacrifice  and 
life,  seem  more  real  and  precious  for  every  new  offer- 
ing in  their  defence.  The  words  "Country"  and 


174  PICKERING    DODGE    ALLEN. 

"  Liberty "  have  new  sacredness  and  power  when 
we  see  what  inspirations  they  shed  down  upon  these 
brave  and  generous  souls.  We  catch  the  inspiration 
too,  and  feel  that  there  is  nothing  better  than  to  enter 
into  heroic  life  of  faith  and  sacrifice.  And  then, 
once  more,  this  opening  of  the  books  of  life  is  the 
opening  of  the  heavens.  Whenever  we  see  life,  we 
instantly  believe'  in  immortality.  We  do  not  merely 
believe,  we  feel,  we  know,  that  love,  truth,  purity, 
can  never  die.  The  memories  of  human  virtue  are 
the  assurances  of  heaven.  We  instinctively  look 
beyond  the  grave  when  we  are  called  to  look  down 
with  deepest  sadness  into  its  silence.  Thanks  for  the 
light  of  immortality  that  shines  through  the  gates 
of  the  tomb  as  the  best  beloved  are  passing  on.  Let 
it  brighten  upon  our  faith  till  it  break  upon  our  sight 
forevermore. 


